ALUMNI 

1949

William Frederick Fritz (HS, medicine, 1954–55; faculty, 1958–2007) died at his home in Baltimore on June 11. He was 98. Fritz was a specialist in internal medicine and an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed a premedical career in the Navy V-12 program and afterward was stationed at the Naval Hospital Philadelphia as a corpsman. Following his residency and fellowship, he entered private practice in 1955 and maintained an office on West University Parkway until he retired in 1991. He was beloved by colleagues and patients for his exceptional skill as a physician and his compassion and empathy.

1961

Richard E. Smith (HS, medicine, 1961–66; PGF, oncology, 1964–66; PGF, medicine, 1966–67) died on May 25, in his home in Fort Worth, Texas. An alumnus of MIT and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he served many patients as a board-certified internist/oncologist.

1962

Scott Sudduth of Stratham, New Hampshire, died on May 19. He was 87. After graduating from medical school, he enlisted in the Navy and later joined the staff of Exeter Hospital as its first gyn/ob specialist. He served there for 40 years. 

1965

Arthur P. Grollman (HS, internal medicine, 1959–61; faculty, 1983–84), distinguished professor of pharmacological sciences at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, died on Feb. 17. He was an expert on the pharmacology of herbal medicines and alerted scientists to the cause of aristolochic acid-induced kidney failure and urothelial cancer. 

Brian Howard Vitsky died on Dec. 7, 2023, in Jacksonville, Florida. He was 84. Following the completion of his residency and fellowship, he served as an associate professor of pathology at Vanderbilt University before moving to Jacksonville, where he became a staff pathologist and eventually chief of pathology at Baptist Medical Center. In 1984, he joined St. Vincent’s Medical Center as a staff pathologist, then served as chief of pathology from 2001–12 before retiring from medicine in 2014.

1969

David M. Capuzzi, Ph.D. (PGF, chemistry, 1965–69; HS, medicine, 1969–70; PGF, endocrinology, 1970–71), died on Feb. 15 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He served as chair of research at Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, director of the Lipids Disorders Program at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He also taught at what is now the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and served on advisory panels for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

1974

John Roumasset died at home in Truckee, California, on April 4, after a 21-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 75 years old. During his career, Roumasset maintained a private practice in psychiatry for almost 40 years and was an outstanding psychopharmacist who was associated with Seton Medical Center.

1989

Dale Herald, M.D., Ph.D. (PGF, biological chemistry, 1989–95), died on April 26. Known for his groundbreaking research in molecular biology and signal transduction, his career spanned from his impactful studies at The Johns Hopkins University to his leadership roles at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/National Institutes of Health.

1992

Jennifer Lindsey Tareco (HS, orthopaedic surgery, 1992–97) of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, died on June 15 after a scuba diving accident. After attending medical school at Johns Hopkins, she remained there for her training in orthopaedic surgery, then worked at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as a pediatric orthopaedic specialist.

FORMER FACULTY, FELLOWS & RESIDENTS/HOUSE STAFF

Virgina Weldon (HS, pediatrics, 1962–64; PGF, pediatric endocrinology, 1964–67; faculty, 1967–68) died on May 23 in St. Louis. She was 88. A leader in pediatric medicine, she joined the pediatrics faculty of the Washington University School of Medicine in 1968 and served as co-director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, then went on to become deputy vice chancellor for medical affairs and vice president of Washington University Medical Center. Following her distinguished medical career, Weldon served as senior vice president of public policy for Monsanto from 1989 until her retirement in 1998.

Elena O. Nightingale (faculty, 1970–73), of Chevy Chase, Maryland, died on April 11 at age 91. Her experience as a Jewish refugee fleeing Italian fascist persecution fueled her more than 50-year career as a pediatrician, microbiologist, geneticist, scientific and medical researcher, public health and science policy expert, and human rights advocate.

Walter Jackson Stark (HS, ophthalmology, 1968–71; faculty, 1982–2007; faculty, 2007–24) died on Feb. 29 in Sarasota, Florida. An internationally recognized leader in corneal surgery, corneal transplantation, intraocular lens implantation and the use of the excimer laser for the rehabilitation of patients with visual disability, he led a distinguished professional career that spanned more than 50 years.

Richard Heuser (HS, cardiology, 1976–79; PGF, cardiology, 1979–81), an internationally known interventional cardiologist whose inventions and techniques are used by cardiologists all over the world, died unexpectedly on May 23 while on an Alaskan cruise. He was 73. One of the forerunners of coronary and peripheral angioplasty, at the time of his death he was a professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and ran a private practice, the Heart and Vascular Center, in Phoenix. Among his inventions and pioneering techniques, he is credited with demonstrating the treatment of angioplasty for shock in patients having a heart attack. He also developed the first catheter treatment for mitral valve leakage, co-developed hydrophilic wire that is used in about 20% of all angioplasty procedures performed worldwide, and co-invented a covered stent that is used in every catheter lab that performs angioplasty and stenting in the world. Edward Platia, a cardiologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, became great friends with Heuser at Johns Hopkins. He says Heuser was always positive and upbeat, with a good sense of humor and infectious enthusiasm, and was “intensely proud of his Hopkins roots."

For a more complete listing of alumni obituaries: visit www.hopkinsmedicine.org/som/alumni/in-memoriam.