Proceeds from Tamru’s memoir, Power, will benefit Shore’s Maternity Department in memory of his late wife, Dr. Robin Carter.
From driving a taxi in New York City to helping expand access to lifesaving heart-valve technology across Asia, Frank Tamru has traveled an extraordinary path. He shares that journey in Power, a memoir spanning three decades of professional adventure, personal discovery and unexpected opportunity.
Now, Tamru is using his story to give back. A portion of the proceeds from the book will benefit the Maternity Department at Shore Medical Center, where his late wife, Dr. Robin Carter, helped deliver babies for 14 years.
“Robin was deeply connected to Shore Medical Center and the families she cared for,” Tamru said. “Supporting the Maternity Department is a meaningful way to honor her life and the work that meant so much to her.”
Although heart surgery provides the backdrop for Power, Tamru wrote the book for a broad audience. At its heart, the memoir is the story of someone who found himself in the right place at the right time, and had the courage to embrace the opportunity.
Tamru’s route into the medical-device field was anything but conventional. After serving as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in South Korea during the Vietnam War era, he returned home and held a variety of jobs, including driving a taxi and working as a waiter and messenger-service salesman. A chance encounter eventually led to an opportunity to sell heart valves.
That opportunity changed the course of his life.
After several years working in the United States, Tamru moved to Asia, where he would spend more than two decades in the heart-valve industry. Based primarily in Singapore, he traveled extensively throughout India, Australia and other parts of Asia as open-heart surgery programs expanded across the region.
Tamru describes those years as a “wild ride.” Long before smartphones, email and instant video calls, he communicated with his company through Telex messages and often made important business decisions independently. With his supervisor based in Hawaii, Tamru was given a sales goal and the freedom to determine how to reach it.
“I could pick up the phone, make an airline reservation and be in India the next day,” he recalled. “There was nothing stopping me from doing what I needed to do.”
The title Power reflects Tamru’s admiration for the physicians who perform heart surgery.
“When heart surgeons physically have your heart in their hands, they have the power to repair it or, in the case of a transplant, replace it,” he said. “That gives them an incredible power—the power to heal and the power to do good.”
While medical professionals may appreciate the book’s perspective on the development of heart-valve technology, Tamru intentionally focused on the people, relationships and experiences behind the science. The memoir also explores love, international travel, career risks and the importance of staying open to life’s unexpected possibilities.
“It’s about being in the right place at the right time, but it’s also about recognizing an opportunity and dedicating yourself to it,” Tamru said. “I hope readers come away with a good feeling and an understanding that doing the right thing matters. Money was never the only consideration.”
Tamru returned to the United States in 2003, settling again near the South Jersey community he calls home. His decision followed the Sept. 11 attacks and a growing desire to be closer to his aging mother, as well as the familiar comforts of home, including the Phillies and Eagles. Before returning, he completed another important professional goal: helping establish a journal devoted to cardiac surgery in Asia.
In addition to Shore Medical Center, proceeds from Power will support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlantic & Cape May Counties, Doctors Without Borders and the Victor Chang Foundation. Each organization reflects an important chapter of Tamru’s life, from his experience as a Big Brother to his decades of work throughout Asia and in the field of heart surgery.
For Shore Medical Center, his gift is especially personal, a tribute to Dr. Carter and the many Shore families she served throughout her career.
Power is available online for $10, with proceeds benefiting Shore Medical Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlantic & Cape May Counties, Doctors Without Borders and the Victor Chang Foundation. To learn more about Frank “Rue” Tamru, explore his remarkable journey or purchase the memoir, visit power-memoir.com.
