HOUSTON -- Dr. Michael E. DeBakey died Friday night of natural causes at the age of 99. He was a world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who helped so many people and changed the medical world forever. 

On Tuesday, July 15, Dr. DeBakey will lie in repose within the rotunda of Houston City Hall, located at 901 Bagby Street downtown, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. During this time the family will receive guests until 7 p.m.

The funeral service for Dr. DeBakey is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16 at 1pm. It will take place at Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral located at 1111 Pierce.

Dr. Michael DeBakey was on the cover of Time, advised just about every American president in the past half century as well as one in Russia, but most importantly, he saved and extended thousands of lives of ordinary people.

Ordinary people whose hearts were failing.

DeBakey pioneered bypasses, transplant techniques, artificial arteries and pumps.

And he did much of it here in Houston. For 50 years he was with Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital.

Born in 1908 in Lake Charles, La., he volunteered to serve during World War II and helped develop the army surgical hospitals we all now know as MASH units.

He left the rest of us wondering how one man could do so much. One reason: he didn’t sleep much.

On Channel 11 in the early 1970s he talked about getting up every morning no later than 4 a.m.  When asked what time he goes to bed at night, he responded with:

“It varies. Depends on what time I get through. If work pushes to 11 or 12, I don’t get to bed till 11 or 12.”

But no matter what time he went to bed, he still got up at 4 a.m.

His renown was international. From the days of black and white TV to the fall of the Soviet Union,  DeBakey was the man to call when your heart was giving out.

Russia’s Boris Yeltsin wanted him there for his bypass operation.

Back in Houston, a high school and a hospital were named for him. But there was heartache as well. He lost both his father and his first wife to -- of all things -- heart disease. He said it reminded him of the limitations of modern medicine.

“And the best that we can do is to continue to try. And that’s what I feel we must never give up in our efforts to overcome these diseases,” said DeBakey.

The years passed, but Dr. DeBakey didn’t seem to change, still rising early and weighing the 160 pounds he did back in high school.

“Personally, I just want to be remembered kindly,” said DeBakey.

Five years ago, he told reporters all he ever wanted to be was a doctor. And he told an interesting story about how a very rich patient had given him an Italian sports car. Near his ranch in the Hill Country, he got it up to 145 mph, then hit the brakes when he saw a highway patrol officer.

“He said, you know you were going over 80 mph? And I thought to myself, there’s something wrong with your radar!” said DeBakey.

Or maybe the officer couldn’t believe a man of his age could go so fast, could do so much. But this was Dr. Michael DeBakey, a man who had been doing that all his life.