Thelma King Thiel, the Liver Lady, passes at 100.
A Century of Purpose: The Liver Lady’s Legacy of Liver Health Advocacy
Thelma King Thiel, known in the health care community as the Liver Lady, passed away in her home in Silver Spring Maryland on June 4th, 2026. She was 100 years old.
Nearly six decades ago, the liver was a mysterious and largely misunderstood organ. In the 1960s, cirrhosis was commonly associated only with alcoholism, and few people at the time, including many physicians, understood the liver’s complex, vital role in human health, or its influence on broader metabolic, cardiovascular, and systemic function.
For this nurse and mother, that would become the driving force behind a lifetime of advocacy.
Thelma King Thiel began her lifelong advocacy journey in 1966 following the birth of her son, Dean. Soon after he was born, Dean was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare condition in which the bile ducts are absent. At the time, research on liver disease was extremely limited, and doctors had few answers for the questions Thiel desperately asked as her son’s condition worsened.
After four and a half heartbreaking years, Dean passed away on Christmas Eve in 1970.
“No one should ever have to suffer the way Dean did. My mission is his memory. Hopefully we have saved millions of lives with our understandable descriptions of the miracles the liver performs 24/7.”
Determined to ensure that other families wouldn’t have to suffer without answers, Thiel transformed her grief into purpose and dedicated her life to raising awareness about liver disease. In Dean’s memory, she founded the Dean Thiel Foundation to support liver research and public education. What began as a small grassroots effort grew into a national movement.
Her work on the Dean Thiel Foundation led to her appointment to the National Commission on Digestive Diseases, a panel of physicians, researchers, politicians, and public figures tasked by Congress with engaging the public to assess need for investment in research. The Commission’s Report ultimately led to the creation of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH.
Through the Commission, Thelma came to the attention of the broader philanthropic community and, in 1979, became Executive Director of the American Liver Foundation. During her tenure, the ALF developed numerous educational resources designed to make the complex functions of the liver understandable to the public. Her work included videos, teachers’ guides, and school curricula, that have reached thousands of students, nurses, and communities. These are available on the website below. She served at ALF for 15 years, growing the organization substantially. While in that role, she was featured on a television show called The Visionaries (narrated by Sam Waterston) and filmed public service announcements with Naomi Judd, Tammy Wynette, C. Everett Koop, and Dan Reeves. Among the memorabilia in her office is a shelf of signed footballs from several NFL teams she educated about liver health in unique locker room speeches. These celebrity moments were fun, but always in service of her passion: teaching people about their liver so they would take care of it.
Over the next years, she traveled around the world—to Japan, Hong Kong, Budapest, and London—sharing the important work of the American Liver Foundation.
In 1994, she left ALF to found a smaller organization focused on liver wellness and prevention—the Hepatitis Foundation International. In 2002, Thelma relocated from New Jersey to Washington, DC, where HFI thrived for many years. One of her proudest accomplishments is the creation of the Oliver and Olivia coloring books, which teach children about healthy living. These are available on the website below.
Even after retiring from HFI, Thelma wasn’t finished. At the young age of 85, she created the Liver Health Initiative (LHI) to continue her mission. She assembled a illustrious Board of Directors and a Board of Advisors who support the work of LHI that continues to this day. At 100, Thelma was still in touch with clinicians, policymakers, and educators, advocating for better liver health education and liver disease prevention.
Thelma’s life has been a master class in dedication and purpose. She took heartbreak and transformed it into healing. Her grit and boundless energy have touched countless lives. Her legacy lives in the people who are healthier because she cared enough to keep going.
Thelma is survived by her son, Mark and his wife, Sue and her daughter, Donna, all of Silver Spring, Maryland. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Jessie, Kevin, and fiancée Kate; Murphy and her husband Carl Wierzbiecky who recently welcomed Thelma’s great-grandson Rex, who arrived on her 100th birthday.
