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The first person to have his failed heart replaced with that of a genetically engineered pig in a groundbreaking operation died Tuesday afternoon at the University of Maryland Medical Center, two months after transplant surgery.

Based in Maryland, David Bennett Sr. He was 57 years old. He had severe heart disease and had agreed to receive an experimental pig heart after being rejected from several waiting lists to receive a human heart.

It was unclear whether his body was rejecting the foreign organ. “There was no apparent cause identified at the time of death,” a hospital spokesperson said.

Hospital officials said they could not comment further on the cause of death as their doctors had not yet done a thorough examination. They plan to publish the results in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The surgeon who performed the transplant, Dr. Bartley Griffith said hospital staff were “devastated” by the loss of Mr Bennett.

Dr. “He proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought to the end,” said Griffith. “Mr. Bennett has been recognized by millions of people around the world for his courage and determination to live.”

The heart transplant was one of a series of pioneering procedures in recent months using organs from genetically modified pigs to replace organs in humans. The process, called xenotransplantation, offers new hope for the tens of thousands of patients whose kidneys, hearts and other organs are sick because there is a severe shortage of donated organs.

Mr. Bennett’s transplant was initially considered successful. It is still considered an important step forward, as the pig’s heart was not immediately rejected and continued to work for more than a month, passing a critical milestone for transplant patients.

According to United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit that coordinates the nation’s organ-buying efforts, last year, about 41,354 Americans received a transplanted organ, more than half of which are kidneys.

But there is a dire shortage of organs, and a dozen or more people die on waiting lists every day. Last year, nearly 3,800 Americans received human donor hearts as substitutes, more than ever before, but demand remains high.

In a research effort that has gained momentum in the last decade due to new gene editing and cloning technologies, scientists are trying to breed pigs whose organs will not be rejected by the human body.

New York surgeons announced in October that they had successfully attached a kidney grown in a genetically modified pig to a brain-dead human patient and found that the organ was functioning normally and producing urine for 54 hours.

In January, surgeons at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported that they had successfully transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig into the stomach of a 57-year-old brain-dead man for the first time. The kidneys worked for three days and produced urine.

UAB surgeons said they hope to start a small clinical trial with live human patients by the end of the year.

In January, shortly after Mr. Bennett’s heart surgery, The Washington Post reported that he had a criminal record It stems from an attack 34 years ago in which she repeatedly stabbed and paralyzed a young man during a fit of jealousy.

According to his sister, Leslie Shumaker Downey, the victim, Edward Shumaker spent twenty years in a wheelchair, was paralyzed from the waist down, and suffered numerous medical complications, including a stroke, before dying in 2007 at age 40. Frederick, Md.

Mr. Bennett’s son, David Bennett Jr., who was a child at the time of the stabbing, said he did not want to discuss his father’s past, stressing that his father had contributed to medical science by undergoing an experimental organ transplant, hoping to “potentially save the lives of patients in the future.”

The heart given to Mr. Bennett came from a genetically modified pig supplied by Revivicor, a regenerative medicine company based in Blacksburg, Va.

The pig carried 10 genetic modifications. Four genes were knocked out or inactivated, including one that encodes a molecule that causes an aggressive human rejection response.

Another gene was also turned off to prevent the pig’s heart from continuing to grow after it was implanted. Additionally, six human genes were inserted into the donor pig’s genome – modifications designed to make pig organs more tolerable for the human immune system.

On New Year’s Eve, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency clearance for the experimental surgery to be performed a week later.

The transplanted heart initially performed well and showed no signs of rejection for several weeks. Hospital officials said Mr. Bennett spent time with his family, received physical therapy and watched the Super Bowl.

However, hospital officials said he was not discharged and his condition had started to worsen a few days ago.

His son made a statement and thanked the hospital and staff on behalf of his father for their hard efforts.

“We hope this story can be the beginning of a hope, not the end,” said Mr. Bennett. “We also hope that what has been learned from his surgery will benefit future patients and hopefully one day end the organ shortage that costs so many lives each year.”