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Obituary for Maria Parizek

Served for many years as Head of the Medical Deanery
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Many university employees who were already in post when we were still the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna will remember Mrs Maria Parizek. She served for many years as Head of the Medical Deanery, right up until the end of 2003, that is to say immediately before the University Act 2002 came into force and the Medical University of Vienna was established as an independent entity.

She fulfilled this role most impressively. Although small and delicate in stature, she had a powerful voice and was regarded as a figure of authority by everyone, not only by the officials and employees in the Deanery but also by all members of the faculty, including the professors. She identified closely with the Medical Faculty and always had its best interests at heart, as well as offering her total loyalty to the resident Dean. In so doing, she displayed the diplomatic quality of discretion but perhaps also the less diplomatic quality of always speaking the truth.

She was the main driving force behind the Medical Deanery’s move from the main university building to its current premises in Spitalgasse. As with all university building projects, this started with a planning phase, long before anyone had even thought up the concept of an independent medical university. Despite all the delays to construction, she still managed to oversee the Medical Deanery for a few weeks in the new premises, shortly before her retirement at the end of 2003. This was something that she had truly deserved.

Wolfgang Schütz