Klaus-Henning Gypser: Obituary

Klaus-Henning Gypser

Klaus-Henning Gypser, MD, precise and exacting in all he did, crossed the threshold during the first week of September. He was 69. Gypser, born on the 27th day of February, 1955, lived a life totally dedicated to classical homeopathy and, with a singular devotion, restored the methodology of Boenninghausen to its rightful place in the homeopathic canon. He died peacefully at home, with family at his bedside, on the 4th of September 2024. The cause of death was melanoma.

Dr. Gypser regularly made presentations at congresses both in his home country and abroad. He was a well-groomed and proportioned man, often in finely tailored clothing, who stood straight as an arrow at 190 cm. His speeches were very well organized and presented in articulate, well-spoken, and impeccable English.

This scholar, par excellence, wrote some 200 articles and several books, for example, Boenninghausen's Lesser Writings (1984), Kent's Minor Writings on Homoeopathy (1987), a three-volume collection of Hering's writings (in German; see below), and Boenninghausen's Therapeutisches Taschenbuch (2000; only in the German language), which is often simply abbreviated as TT (Therapeutic Pocketbook):

“Starting from a data-base of the Pocket Book that was compiled by George Dimitriadis in Sydney, this work was then further refined with the advice from a group of seven others in Germany.”

–Julian Winston, The Heritage of Homoeopathic Literature [THHL], p. 77

The Boenninghausen Repertory: Therapeutic Pocketbook Method (edited by George Dimitriadis), which is a complete re-edit of Boenninghausen's Pocket Book, was undertaken by a group led by Dimitriadis in Sydney, Australia, over a period of 5 years. It contains various contributions by K.-H. Gypser and his working circle in Germany. The English and German versions are a bit different in format. Winston further comments on these two volumes:

Two incredibly thorough works. One can only hope that a new generation (after a gap of almost 75 years) will begin to use the profound methodology of Boenninghausen. An excellent omen at the start of the new millennium!”

–Julian Winston, THHL, p. 77

Gypser compiled Hering's Medizinische Schriften (1988; 3 vols., 1,658 pp.), an enormous project which:

“Includes all articles written by Hering in German, and placed in chronological order. It includes a biographical sketch of Hering and a list of all his publications. Provings done by Hering are not included in the book.”

–Julian Winston, THHL, p. 177

Klaus-Henning Gypser graduated, in 1985, from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). He had always been treated with homeopathy and knew, by the age of 16 years, that he would pursue medicine and practice homeopathy upon graduation. While attending medical school, he used some of his scant vacation time to make the acquaintance and study with three of the most important homeopaths of the 20th century, Drs. Jost Kunzli (1915–1992), Will Klunker (1923–2002), and Georg von Keller (1919–2003). In 1986, in Glees, he formally began his practice of classical homeopathy.

In 2004, he founded The Glees Academy of Homoeopathic Physicians (Glees is a small German town located in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate), which was dedicated to the postgraduate training of physicians in homeopathy and to research—most notably for his Materia Medica Revisa Homoeopathiae (MMRH) project. The academy is comprised of a classroom, administrative office, research facilities, and an extensive, high-quality library, the result of which was created from the extensive collection of books and ephemera from the libraries of Gypser, Georg von Keller, Pilaka Krishnamurty, and American collector and devotee, Chris Ellithorp).^[1]

Dr. Gypser's homeopathic library is one of the finest I have ever seen–and it is magnificently presented. As he said “I built the house around the library.” It is contained in his consulting room – a large split-level room with built-in bookcases everywhere…[he] sees patients three days a week…sitting at a large desk on which is a Kent Repertory, a Boger/Boenninghausen Repertory, and a Boenninghausen Pocket Book. Behind him are shelves that contain the volumes of Allen's Encyclopedia, Hering's Guiding Symptoms, Clarke's Dictionary, Hahnemann's Materia Medica Pura and Chronic Diseases, and a number of other reference works – both in English and in German. To one side are two slide-out trays holding all the cards of the Field Repertory.

–Julian Winston (“A Visit with Dr. med. Klaus-Henning Gypser,” Homeopathy Today, 11/2000, pp. 16–17).^[2]

The basic course of instruction in homeopathy was held at said academy on weekends over a period of 18 months. An important adjunct to the academy's work was the revision and improvement of the homeopathic materia medica. The goal of his working circle was to compile a new materia medica and, in the process, create a repertory of unquestioned accuracy.

Early in his career, Klaus-Henning Gypser had the foresight to create an index card for every article he read. Each card listed the author, chief complaint, homeopathic curative symptoms, and remedy/remedies prescribed. This meticulousness served him well when he set out to create an updated and very accurate homeopathic materia medica. Other contributors were recruited and given a plentiful supply of index cards to assist them in their research endeavors. By the early 2000s, computer technology had become ubiquitous yet many lesser journals remained unscanned and, on a computer search, one could not find many of the citations that were contained on Henning's index cards. This became the Materia Medica Revisa Homoeopathiae—serially published monographs of individual remedies (now counting about 70 fundamental remedies) in the German language.^[3]

Dr. Georg von Keller bequeathed his mentee with a microfiche of Boenninghausen's casebooks and, from those, Gypser noticed subtle improvements in his prescribing and, from that extra data, brought out a new, clarified edition of the Therapeutic Pocketbook for the first time in nearly 100 years. This generated, perhaps unexpectedly, renewed interest and led to the development of new software programs and new champions of Boenninghausen's profound and succinct method, such as Heiner Frei and George Dimitriadis. Their work spawned a global rediscovery of Boenninghausen.

Gypser served as an appointed lecturer for homoeopathy at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn and as visiting professor at Shri Kamaxidevi Homoeopathic Medical College in Shiroda, Goa, India.

Additionally, Dr. Gypser presented countless seminars and workshops, for example, “International Workshop with Dr. KH Gypser,” which was held from October 6 to 7, 2018, and sponsored by the Excel Academy of Homoeopathy and Jodhpur Homoeopathic Association in collaboration with Glees Academy of Homoeopathic Physicians. His wife, Heike, was in attendance and presented material concerning homeopathy pharmaceutics.

Gypser was a regular conference presenter of well-researched classical homeopathy material. He was a great force, during the turn of this last century, for a strict adherence to the principles of classical homeopathy. That special temper and presence that he brought rang out through our community and pointed in an unwavering direction despite what others, through their own creativity and neoclassical approach, brought forth. Nevertheless, he was immovable in his stance and was ever ready and able to protect and support the Hahnemannian approach. That singular devotion will most definitely be missed.

Dr. Gypser, in addition to his many varied duties, was a former editor of Zeitschrift fuer klassische Homoeopathie (1987–1992) as well as Classical Homoeopathy Quarterly (1988–1992).

“We will remember and esteem him as a pioneer in homeopathy, and as the one who rediscovered Boenninghausen, which was extremely important. May he rest in peace.”

–Heiner Frei

“I was initially encouraged to contact Dr. Gypser by Dr. Maesimund Panos, who knew of my efforts to archive and preserve the history of homeopathy. Shortly after, Henning visited my library in New York for the first time. He also encouraged his friend, Dr. Georg von Keller to visit me, which he did. Henning and I shared a strong interest in the history of homeopathy and in the preservation of homeopathic literature and pure homeopathy. In my recently published bibliographic catalogue [of my library, I mention Henning's revision and clarification of W. W. Sherwood's New Remedies…, where Henning discusses the need for clarification and honest research in the publishing and presentation of homeopathic literature and periodicals. Although recently we had little contact, I still vividly remember Henning's and my discussions regarding the history of homeopathy and the importance of archiving and preserving homeopathic source materials. I was saddened to learn of his passing.”

–William Kirtsos

“It was during his Sydney seminar in April 1995, where Dr. med. K-H Gypser provided a primer for unlearning, demonstrating the very shaky foundations of information in Kent's Repertory, before proceeding to illustrate the solidity of Boenninghausen's Therapeutic Pocket Book (TT) - this little work which had stood rarely touched on my own shelves for many years, was revealed as a work of unsurpassed accuracy and consistency, to which a certainty, a sense of security could be attached. K-H Gypser had done Australian homœopathy a great service, for he had singularly impressed us with the value of this seemingly small work from Bönninghausen, and provided a way out of uncertainty, with a most reliable and invaluable alternative, TT. His masterly presentation provided the inspiration for our own (5-year long) TT English Language republication project - culminating in The Boenninghausen Repertory, Therapeutic Pocketbook Method (2000), a revival and retranslation of Boenninghausen's TT. During this project time, I was able to spend 3 weeks with K-H Gypser in his home (1998) - it was a time of reading and re-reading from the volumes at hand in his library, and of continually asking questions as to the true meaning of words so as to ensure fidelity in our work for TBR. Irrespective of the ultimate difference in course of our professional paths afterwards, K-H Gypser was the man who first sparked my interest in Boenninghausen and TT, and triggered my own close study and continuing work in this repertorial method, for which I remain forever thankful.”

–George Dimitriadis. [Note: TT = Therapeutisches Taschenbuch -Therapeutic Pocketbook]

“I am very sad, Dr. Gypser was an excellent homeopathic doctor and so inspiring to me. When I first met him in Sorrento, I presented for the first time and when I finished my lecture he came to me and advised me to learn German so he could invite me to his clinic and library, now it will no longer happen…I'm still learning German every day. He was also a member of our Publications Working Group at LMHI and we were always in touch. A great loss for Homeopathy.”

–Andrea Flores

“I recall visiting him in Germany during Medicine Week (Medizinische Woche) in Baden-Baden sometime in the fall of the mid-1990s. We spent an afternoon together as he gave me a tour around his academy and splendid library before enjoying a sit-down family dinner. In the years after, we would occasionally meet at international conferences and I recall the time we found ourselves at the LIGA congress in New Delhi, India in December of 2011.[4]

“I was staying in a rented flat not far from the congress site and there lived a guard dog which patrolled the property. After the Saturday night festive party, I returned late to my rented flat and as I attempted to unlock the outside gate that dog, unbeknownst to me, had stealthy approached from behind and bit my behind—my right buttock! Anyway, too tired to be concerned, I went to sleep, the night unaware of the result of that injury. The next morning at the congress, I spied K.-H. across the hall and waved to him. When we met, I explained what happened and asked if he would accompany me to the bathroom to examine my buttock; and he did! Just imagine, K.-H. looking at my bum! Even now I can laugh out loud at this memory—fortunately no skin had been broken; there was just a bruise.

“Dr. Gypser was a great man who loved homeopathy almost as much as life itself, almost as much as his dear family.

“Love of the truth, homeopathy veritas, is what Gypser should most be remembered for. Let that love and his noble presence continue to vivify and inspire us.”

–Jay Yasgur

A story though, perhaps not mine to tell as it happened when Julian Winston visited Germany in 2004 (I didn't go with him), was when Julian stayed with Dr. Gypser for a few days in March/April 2004. Previous to that they shared many e-mails and philosophical discussions with him over the years. The morning that Julian was to leave, at breakfast, Dr. Gypser solemnly apologized to him because his train would be delayed. Julian was naturally upset and concerned and it was then that Gypser said “April Fools! In Germany the trains always run on time.”

–Gwyneth Evans (widow of Mr. Winston)

Publication History

Article published online:
29 April 2025