Anusak Yiengpruksawan

Anusak Yiengpruksawan, on November 14, 2023, passed away peacefully at home in Saddle River with his wife Mimi by his side. His was a long struggle with pancreatic cancer which he faced with great fortitude and equanimity. When peace finally came it was with a smile.

Anusak was born in Yala, Thailand, as youngest in a loving family of four brothers and four sisters. From an early age he felt a mission to become a physician in order to help those who suffered especially from cancer. After completing high school at Triam Udom Suksa School in Bangkok, Anusak went on to earn multiple fellowships for medical training in Japan. He graduated Tohoku University, School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan in 1978 and completed a residency in thoracic surgery at the same institution. He then pursued specializations in gastrointestinal surgery and surgical oncology at Harlem Hospital (1989) and Memorial Sloan Kettering (1991). After several years in his private practice Bergen Surgical Oncology, he joined Valley Hospital at Ridgewood to eventually become director of the Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery Center and Director of the Surgical Oncology Service. In 2017 he was named Director of the Bumrungrad Robotic Surgery Center at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.

As a pioneering robotics surgeon, with numerous accomplishments to his name, Anusak was an innovative thinker whose life’s passion was to help others. With humility and dedication, he committed his life to the care and comfort of those in need, and to the education and training of medical students and doctors. He was at the same time a joyful, funny, and sometimes mischievous man with a sparkle in his eye and great wit. Full of a sense of adventure, he traveled to extraordinary places, from hiking along high-altitude Tibetan lakes to scuba-diving the coral reefs of Australia, yet found time to spend at home with his dog, a pond full of koi, and the everyday pleasures of a life well lived.

Anusak spent many happy years at Valley Hospital, where he treasured his many colleagues and friends and especially his surgical team. The Valley family meant a great deal to him, and to have ended his days among Valley colleagues and caregivers is a precious gift.

Anusak is survived by his wife Mimi Yiengpruksawan, his brother Anukul Yiengprugsawan (wife Mayuri), his niece Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan (husband Peter), and his nephew Palm Yiengprugsawan (wife Fon).

May his memory be for a blessing full of joy and light.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Valley Hospital Foundation.

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