Pioneering Orthopedic Surgeon and Gentle Soul Alfred Kritter Dies

Dr. Alfred Kritter is remembered for his leadership in the field of orthopedic surgery and his gentle and caring nature for his patients. Dr. Kritter was 93 when he died January 30, 2022. He was especially devoted to helping children with disabilities, according to his obituary.

Dr. Kritter graduated from Marquette University and Marquette Medical School and did his residency there as well. He began his orthopedic practice in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1960.

He was the first practicing orthopedic surgeon in Waukesha County. As his practice grew with more associate physicians, he named his organization Orthopaedic Associates of Wisconsin which is still active in the community today.

He also founded the Juvenile Amputee and Congenital Limb Deficiency Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin as well as the Milwaukee County General Hospital (now Froedtert) Adult Amputee Clinic.

During his long career, he was chief of orthopedic surgery at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, assistant clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin and held many local hospital affiliations.

Dr. Kritter published many articles in local, state, and international publications. In addition, he participated in the Doctors Without Borders program, where he traveled from Arizona to Mexico to donate his medical skills to desperately underserved communities in Mexico.

What he is best known for though is his innovative surgical skills and gentle bedside manner which made him a favorite of the patients under his care.

Dr. Kritter retired from his daily practice but not medicine in 1988. A few years later he moved to Tucson, Arizona and then to Charlotte, North Carolina to be closer to his family.

Besides his dedication to orthopedics, he was also active in the military. He served active duty in the Korean War. He re-enlisted in the army as a field physician during the first Gulf War then retired with the rank of colonel.

Dr. Kritter also always loved the outdoors. He enjoyed sailing, fly fishing and bird hunting. And in retirement he took up boat building, bird carving and woodworking. He also learned to fly planes and received his Instrument Flight Rules rating.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio on August 13, 1928, to the late Eugene and Helen Kritter, he had two brothers, Robert and Eugene, as well as two sisters, Evelyn and Virgina, all who preceded him in death. His wife Ruth Catherine Kramer who he married on June 16, 1951, passed away in 2012.

They had six children. He is survived by his three sons, Alfred (Lynn) of Savannah, Georgia, David (Holly) of Prospect Harbor, Maine, and Timothy (Elizabeth) of Madison and two daughters, Mary of Minnetonka, Minnesota and Jane (Steven) of Fort Mill, South Carolina. His third and middle daughter Joanne (Tom) preceded him in death.

He is also survived by 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.