Dr. Gerhard Maier

Herr Dr. Med. Gerhard Maier

Albert Georg Gerhard Maier passed away at his home after a brief illness on April 14, 2024.

Born on February 5, 1949, in Nürnberg, Germany, he was the only child of the late Georg and Margarete Maier. After graduating from Melanchton-Gymnasium Nürnberg, he attended Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg where he earned a Masters in Economics (Diplom-Volkswirt). Deciding on a career in medicine, he graduated with a medical doctorate from Julius-Maximillian University in Würzburg in 1982. Completing his residency in internal medicine in Bergen, Norway, he first practiced medicine at the University Clinic of Göttingen. While at Göttingen, he began pursuing his passion for helping others with his gifts. In 1986, he first volunteered at St. Walburg’s Hospital in Nyangao Province, Tanzania. Over the years, he became involved with German-based NGO Doctors for Developing Countries (Ärzte für die Dritte Welt) through which he delivered medical services in countries around the world including India, El Salvador, Togo, and Vietnam. Board certified in urology, andrology, chemotherapy, and oncology, he established his own medical practice in Lübbecke in 1990. In 1991, he married the former Nancy Holman of Liberty County, Georgia, in Xanten, Germany, and they welcomed their only child Katy on April 1, 1995. The family continued to live in Germany until Dr. Maier’s retirement in 2012 when they moved to family land overlooking St. Catherine’s Island.

For the last decade of his life, he continued working six months a year at the Cancer Rehabilitation Center in Bad Oexen, Germany. In addition to his professional clinical work, he had a deep passion for nature and was an avid sportsman and athlete. He loved running marathons and completed the Hermannslauf, one of Germany's most prestigious and popular long-distance trail races, several times. He also enjoyed long road bike adventures including a memorable 225-mile (659 km) trek from his home in Lübbecke to Munich. In addition to boxing and jogging, he relished hiking in the Alps and North Georgia mountains, taking occasional off-shore fishing trips, strolling the beach, and kayaking the marshes off St. Catherine’s Sound. He gave back to the Earth by sustainably nurturing his homeplace he shared with his wife Nancy, planting fruit trees and longleaf pine and tending his beloved roses.

A true renaissance man, he was interested in and read widely on all subjects, and was fluent in German, English, French, Norwegian, Spanish, Swahili, Latin, and Greek. An audiophile, he savored classical music with a particular fondness for Boccherini, Bach, and Beethoven, but, in his final days, he was soothed by Willie Nelson’s classic album Stardust. He had a sophisticated and dry sense of humor and never missed many opportunities to poke fun at hypocrisy. Stepping out into the afternoon breeze, he often enjoyed a good beer at five o’clock or cup of coffee, cigarette, and glass of cognac as the sunset bathed the marsh and distant islands in Coastal Georgia’s own glorious variation of Alpenglow.

He is survived and will be deeply mourned by his devoted wife of 33 years Nancy Lou Holman Maier, his daughter Katharina Courtney Holman-Maier, his brother- and sister-in-law Lynn and Crystal Holman, several German cousins, and many friends and associates in both the United States and Europe.

A visitation will be held at Thomas L. Carter Funeral Home in Flemington, Georgia, from 7:00 pm until 8:30 pm on Friday, April 19, 2024. Funeral services, which will be held at a later date, will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to 100 Miles.orghttp://onehundredmiles.org

Thomas L. Carter Funeral Home & Crematory is handling the arrangements.

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