Arthur Steffee, a groundbreaking orthopedic surgeon from Pennsylvania, died at his home on August 16 at the age of 90, according to the Cranberry Eagle (Pa.) newspaper.

The newspaper reported that Steffee was days away from celebrating his 90th birthday with a champagne toast at a piano concert.

Born in Oil City, Pa., Steffee became a renowned surgeon and was labeled “the father of modern spine surgery,” in a Cleveland Clinic article last year. He also founded the spinal implant company AcroMed in 1984.

Steffee went to medical school at McGill University in Montreal, and then was among the first group of interns at Cleveland Clinic. Steffee was Director of Orthopedic Services at Lutheran Medical Center’s Cleveland Spine and Arthritis Center, as well as former Chair of Orthopedic Surgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital. While on staff at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland in 1982, he invented the pedicle screw system to stabilize the spine, which revolutionized spine surgery.

Steffee was the 2023 recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. Steffee retired from practicing medicine in 1996, but his impact was so great that Cleveland Clinic’s Neurosurgery Institute offers a spinal review course each year that includes a guest lecture named for him.

Steffee was the 2007 recipient of NASS’ Leon Wiltse Award.