In 1950, Koop removed the appendix of a young girl named Priscilla, which sparked a lifelong friendship with the girl’s parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer. In 1979 Koop and Schaeffer collaborated on a book and film project, Whatever Happened to the Human Race?, which played a key role in motivating evangelicals in supporting the burgeoning pro-life movement.

C. Everett Koop died February 25 at the age of 96. Here are nine things you should know about the former surgeon general.

1. In 1981, Dr. Charles Everett Koop—his lifelong nickname was “Chick”, short for “chicken coop”—had never served in public office when President Ronald Reagan appointed him surgeon general of the United States.

2. At the age of 14, Koop operated on rabbits, rats, and stray cats in his basement after his mother had administered anesthesia. By his account, not one of the animals died.

3. Koop was a pioneer in pediatric surgery, inventing many of the anesthetic and surgical techniques that are now used on neonates and infants. He first gained international recognition in 1957 by the separation of two female infants conjoined at the pelvis and then, again, in 1974 by the separation of two twins conjoined at the spine who shared a liver, colon, and parts of the intestines.

4. In 1950, Koop removed the appendix of a young girl named Priscilla, which sparked a lifelong friendship with the girl’s parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer.

5. Although raised as a Baptist, Koop became a Presbyterian after attending a church near the hospital where he worked as a surgeon.

6. Koop became surgeon general the year the AIDS pandemic began and played an important role in educating Americans about the disease. Because of the political concerns about the disease, Koop rewrote 17 drafts of his 36-page report on AIDS. An eight-page version was later mailed to every American household in 1988, the largest public health mailing ever done by the government.

7. In 1986, Koop issued a surgeon general’s report about smoking, stating that secondhand smoke had been conclusively proved to cause cancer.

8. In 1997 he founded DrKoop.com, a popular medical information website that was valued at more than $1 billion before it went bankrupt in the collapse of the Internet bubble.

9. The military-style uniform worn by surgeons generals had fallen into disuse until they were revived by Koop, who thought they would make people take him more seriously.

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