Marx, Gertie F.: Distinguished German-born American physician known as the "mother of obstetric anesthesia." She almost singlehandedly developed obstetric anesthesiology as a specialty. She advanced the use of epidural injections to ease women's pain during childbirth. She developed an epidural needle that bears her name and she was the founding editor of Obstetric Anesthesia Digest. Dr. Marx died in New York in 2004 at the age of 91.