Douglas H. Stone, M.D.

Asheville - Douglas H. Stone, M.D., 91, died Sunday, April 28, 2002, at his home in the Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community in Asheville. A native of Baltimore, Md., he was the son of the late Dr. Harvey B. Stone and Ethel Hoffman Stone. He was educated in Baltimore Public School #32, the Baltimore Friends School and at Johns Hopkins University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1933. At Hopkins, he served as President of Omicron Delta Kappa, the Honorary Fraternity, and was a member of Phi Gamma Delta Social fraternity. He served on the Student Council and regularly wrote editorial articles for the “News-Letter”. He was an attack player on the Johns Hopkins World Championship Lacrosse Team, demonstrating the game at the Los Angles Olympics in 1932. Dr. Stone earned his medical degree at the Harvard Medical School in 1937. He received his post-graduate training at the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, where he advanced from intern to Chief Resident Surgeon in 1941. He married Esther McDorman in 1939. In WWII, he volunteered in 1942 for service with the Johns Hopkins General Army Hospital #18, serving in the South Pacific Theatre in New Zealand and the Fiji Islands, with the rank of Captain. Later, after a shoulder operation at Walter Reed Hospital, he volunteered for service with the Fourth Auxiliary Surgical Group in the E.T.O. He was chief of a forward surgical team that went in with the Normandy invasion forces on Utah Beach on D+1 and served up front until the war ended in Europe. He received the Bronze Star medal and was awarded six Bronze Service Stars for participation in the campaigns in the Fiji Islands, Normandy landings, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe. He served with units awarded the Meritorious Service Plaque and the Presidential Unit Citation. He was demobilized in December, 1945, with the rank of Major. Returning to Baltimore, Dr. Stone established his solo private practice of general surgery. He had hospital affiliations with the staffs of the Union Memorial Hospital and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. Also, he was affiliated with Church Home Hospital, Provident Hospital, Maryland General Hospital and West Baltimore General Hospital. He served for several years as instructor at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in the clinics of General Surgery, Surgical Anatomy and Rectal Surgery. He was a consultant to the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Medical Chart Committee. He served as surgical consultant to the resident surgical staffs of the various hospitals. At the Union Memorial Hospital, he served on the executive Committee of the medical staff. At Greater Baltimore Medical Center, he served on the Medical Board and was chairman of the By-Laws Committee and the Surgical Advisory Committee. Dr. Stone was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery; a Senior Fellow of the Southern Surgical Association; Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine; Senior member of the Southern Society of Clinical Surgeons and the Association of VA Surgeons. He was an Emeritus member of the Maryland Medical and Chirurgical Faculty. While living in Baltimore, Dr. Stone and his family were members of the Roland Park Presbyterian Church. In 1968, Dr. Stone retired from private practice in Baltimore and accepted a position on the General Surgical Service at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Asheville. At the time that the Asheville VA Hospital was affiliated with Duke University School of Medicine, Dr. Stone was a Duke Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery actively involved in training Duke Surgical Residents. He retired from the Veterans Administration in 1980 as Chief of the General Surgical Section. After retirement he devoted much of his time to his personal Christian spiritual interest. He also enjoyed his hobbies of reading, painting in oil, pastel, and watercolor, gardening, photography, woodcarving, tree felling, wood chopping, and traveling with his wife, Essie. Surviving are his wife of 63 years, the former Esther McDorman; three sons, Daniel Harvey Stone of California, John Marshall Stone of North Carolina and James Timothy Stone of Colorado; one daughter, Judith Stone Cook of Idaho and one granddaughter of Washington State. Dr. Stone’s sister, Mrs. George Yeager of Maryland also survives as well as many nieces and nephews. Dr. Stone was preceded in death by one brother, Brinton H. Stone of California. A memorial service was held at 2 pm Monday, May 6 in St. Giles Chapel, Deerfield. A second service was held at 11 am, Saturday, May 11, 2002 in the Roland Park Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.