DR. HELMUT HARTMANN

Dr. Helmut Hartmann, 83, of Venice, Fla., died Tuesday, July 21, 1998, in Venice.

Hartmann practiced in Southern Illinois, in the Frohna area and in Cape Girardeau.

He was born May 25, 1915, in Ebolowa, Cameroon, West Africa. He first married Brenda Parks, who died in 1993. He later married Martha Baum.

Hartmann received a bachelor's degree from the University of Berlin in 1941, and a medical degree at the University of Heidelberg in 1942. He specialized in tropical diseases and surgery.

In order to keep his father from being executed, he joined the medical corps of the German army during World War II. He served on the Russian front and in North Africa, where he was captured twice by English troops and placed in POW camps. He escaped both times.

Hartmann went to Iran after the war. He came to the United States in 1954 and became a citizen in 1956.

After an internship in a Chicago hospital, Hartmann set up health clinics in three Illinois and Missouri towns. He retired to Venice in 1984.

Survivors include his wife; a daughter, Heidi Gaudry of Gainesville, Ga., and Lyon, France; a son, Helmut Hartmann of Frechen, Germany; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Toale Brothers Gulf Gate Chapel in Sarasota, Fla., was in charge of arrangements.