Alf E. Gundersen

Dr. A. Erik Gundersen “Dr. Erik,” 95, passed away peacefully at his home in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on March 8, 2026.

Alf Erik Gundersen, the second of four children of Dr. Alf H. Gundersen and Carroll McCarty Gundersen, was born on December 26, 1930, at Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse.

Erik attended elementary school at Campus School, a training school for student teachers, on the UWL campus. He attended Central High School as a sophomore but was shipped off to Lake Forest Academy, near Chicago, for his junior and senior years, as his parents felt that he was succumbing to negative peer influence in La Crosse. Erik loved Lake Forest, where he lettered in baseball, basketball, and football. He credits the discipline of the all-boys-school for his ability to succeed the rigors of medical school. He went on to Dartmouth College for his undergraduate studies and earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School.

In 1953 Erik married his high school sweetheart, Carol Ann Westerlund. They raised four children who were born throughout his years of training. The family grew surrounded by the large, extended Gundersen clan and spent many happy summer weeks together at the family cabin on Lake Couderay, canoeing northern Wisconsin rivers, sailing, swimming and playing tennis. Together with their children, Erik and Carol carried forward the values of education, a disciplined work ethic, love for the outdoors and service to the community.

After medical school Erik completed two years of surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. When the Army came calling, he continued surgery as a captain at Fort Carson Army Base in Colorado Springs. At the completion of his military service, he returned to Boston to complete three more years of surgical training, including general, pediatric and cardiac surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. He then completed an additional 18 months of thoracic surgery training in Norway and England with Carol, four young children and his mother-in-law in tow.Erik came from a distinguished line of Norwegian-American physicians whose dedication to medicine shaped the history of healthcare in La Crosse. His grandfather, father, numerous uncles and cousins were physicians, continuing a family tradition that helped build what became the Gundersen Clinic. He was intensely proud of this family achievement, and at an early age felt compelled to follow in these footsteps. In turn, Erik’s father, Dr. Alf Gundersen, was immensely proud of his son and often introduced him with a smile as “my son, S-U-N”, an expression that could mildly annoy Erik’s sisters.

Dr. Erik devoted his life to the Gundersen Clinic. After returning to La Crosse in 1964 at the age of 33, he helped pioneer heart surgery in the region, bringing advanced cardiac procedures to western Wisconsin at a time when the field was still developing. Working with early heart-lung machines, he and his team refined surgical techniques in the laboratory on dogs and calves before performing them on patients, helping establish one of the region’s first heart surgery programs. Specializing in pediatric and thoracic surgery, Dr. Erik performed the hospital’s first open heart operation in 1965 and its first coronary bypass in 1969.

Over the course of his career, he completed more than five thousand surgical cases before retiring from surgery in 2000. Deeply committed to education and to the Gundersen Health System, he served as Vice-President of the Gundersen Medical Foundation from 2000 to 2020. With his gentle manner, dedication to excellence, and genuine care for others, he touched countless lives and remains warmly remembered by colleagues, patients and their families.

Erik married Sophia Ferris in 1995. Erik and Sophia shared many happy years together, enjoying travel, good food, and time at home. During a visit to Alaska, a stray dog named Homer found his way into Erik and Sophia’s hearts, and overnight they became dog lovers, adopting several dogs over the years. Erik especially loved Sophia’s cooking, and together they created a beautiful home and garden where they hosted many memorable dinner parties. For fifteen years they also hosted the annual Gundersen Christmas party for over one hundred family members, carrying forth Norwegian customs of food, drink, song and traditional costumes. Sophia lovingly cared for Erik in their home in his final year, with the support of Erik’s children and their spouses.

Erik was a lifelong learner and actively pursued many interests. An avid reader, he especially enjoyed the opportunity to read more after retirement, devouring nonfiction, history, and biography. He was keenly interested in the Gundersen legacy and the history of La Crosse, serving for several years as president of the La Crosse Historical Society. He researched and compiled the Gundersen Family Tree and oversaw the translation into English of an historical treasure trove of letters from Norway between his grandparents and several of his uncles.

Athletic throughout his life, Erik played singles tennis regularly until the age of eighty, often defeating players much younger than himself. He also pursued mountain climbing and ascended several peaks, including treks to the Mount Everest Base Camp and to Aconcagua in the Andes.

Erik is survived by Sophia Ferris; Carol Gundersen; sister, Marit Kulleseid; children: Andrea Gundersen (Bill Perkins), Jon Gundersen (Ellen Ott), Leif Gundersen, and Lisa Gundersen (John Wilhelm); five grandchildren (Kirsten, Erik, Riise, Iris, Josie); two great-grandchildren (Rocky, Rosie); and a large contingent of others of the Gundersen family.

He was preceded in death by parents Alf and Carroll Gundersen, brother Martin Gundersen, and sister Signe Schroeder.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, April 25, 2026 in the Riverside Ballroom at the La Crosse Center from 1-5 pm. Remarks will begin at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to the Gundersen Medical Foundation.

Erik’s favorite stories involved men who made their mark with acts of extraordinary courage who endured, survived and led others to safety while facing profound challenges. He exemplified these qualities until the end. We whose lives he protected and advanced will miss his clear-eyed steering of the ship.

These lines from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses were among Erik’s favorites:

Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are,

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.