PITTSBURGH — Dr. George Magovern, a Pittsburgh cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered artificial heart valves, has died. He was 89. Officials at Allegheny General Hospital, where Magovern introduced many of his techniques, say he died Nov. 4.

The surgeon’s son, Dr. George Magovern Jr., says his father is recognized for heart techniques in the same way that Jonas Salk is recognized for the polio vaccine. The elder Magovern is best known for co-inventing a sutureless heart valve, which reduced the time of such surgeries, increasing the odds that patients would survive.