Johannesburg | Sunday
PIONEERING heart surgeon Chris Barnard’s brother will not attend his funeral in Beaufort West on Friday, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Marius Barnard (73) recalled unhappy childhood memories and said that out of respect for his father’s memory he would not attend the funeral.
But Karin Barnard, Chris’s third wife, said there was ”more to (Marius’s) bitterness than his childhood memories of Beaufort West” and said ”it was all a matter of jealousy”.
She said Chris had tried to have a relationship with his brother, but Marius had made this difficult.
Marius said he would try and attend Monday’s memorial service at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town where he was part of a team that performed the world’s first heart transplant in 1967.
He said his reluctance to attend his brother’s funeral arose out his disgust at the way Beaufort West had embraced its connection with his family after Chris had become famous.
While the brothers were growing up there they had been ostracised by the town’s white community because their father, Adam, preached to coloured people.
”I told (Chris) to remove my name from that building because of what they did to our father,” said Marius referring to the Beaufort West museum dedicated to his brother’s achievements.
However, Chris welcomed the town council’s decision to honour its connection with the Barnard family and supported the proposal to build the museum.
Karin, who was divorced from Chris in March this year, said that unlike his younger brother, Chris had been able to reconcile himself with the town.
Barnard (78) died of an asthma attack at a hotel in Cyprus where he was holidaying earlier this month. – Sapa