A pediatric surgeon from Chicago drowned in Lake Michigan after saving two boys who fell out of their kayak.

Dr. Donald Liu jumped into the lake Sunday morning to save the boys, who were family friends, despite objections from his family, who were concerned about the choppy water, the Chicago Tribune reported. The boys, who were not wearing life vests, were struggling in the water after their kayak overturned.

The boys made it back to shore, but Liu was pulled under the water by a dangerous rip current. He was pronounced dead after his wife, Dr. Dana Suskind, also a surgeon, performed CPR on him. He was 50.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Two other people died Sunday in Lake Michigan.

Liu, who converted to Judaism, and his wife had three children. The family had recently visited Shanghai to celebrate his oldest child’s bat mitzvah, according to the newspaper.

Chicago media reported that he would be buried wearing University of Chicago Medicine surgical scrubs and holding a White Sox baseball, a video game and pictures of his children.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount