John Christopher Wiles

New London - John Christopher Wiles, 69, beloved husband and father, died at home on Friday, June 24, 2016, surrounded by his family.

John was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the son of Gordon P. Wiles and Margaret I. Wiles.

In addition to his wife, Joan H. Wiles and son, Christopher T. Wiles; John is also survived by his brother, Peter T. Wiles of N. Yarmouth, Maine; and several nieces and nephews.

John attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. and graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in physics, cum laude. While at Yale, he won the Barge Prize in mathematics. After three years in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence (Munich, Germany), he took premedical courses at Connecticut College, where he also played on the soccer team.

In 1976, John graduated from the Yale University School of Medicine and then completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at the University of Alabama Hospitals & Clinics in Birmingham.

After his residency, he served in the U.S. Public Health Service as a general medical officer and internal medicine consultant at the Zuni Indian Hospital in Zuni, New Mexico for two years. In addition to his medical responsibilities, he took advantage of the opportunity to learn about Zuni culture and hike and ski in that part of the country.

During the next three years, John completed a second residency training program in dermatology at the University of Arizona in Tucson where he was chief resident during his final year.

In 1984, John moved to New London in order to set up a private practice in dermatology. For the first four years, he also served part-time on the volunteer clinical faculty teaching Yale medical students and residents at the West Haven VA Hospital.

During his 27 years in practice, John was well-known and well-respected in his field and found the practice of medicine to be enormously rewarding. He was both thorough and compassionate in working with his patients, and it was his greatest pleasure to help people.

John served as chief of the dermatology section, department of internal medicine, at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital from 1997 until he retired in August of 2011. He felt very fortunate to have had many years working with his medical partner, Dr. Mary Ann Bentz and his office manager, Edna Silva.

Outside of medicine John had a wide variety of interests. He was a dedicated runner and was often seen running in the area and participating in local road races. He also enjoyed studying mathematics and physics for fun. At one time during college, John considered making piano performance his career. During the last several years of his life, he spent a great deal of time playing the piano which he enjoyed immensely.

John was deeply devoted to his wife, Joan, and son, Christopher, and enjoyed many happy family vacations skiing, hiking in western national parks, camping in the backyard and other places farther afield, and taking white water raft trips on several wild western rivers. Also, vacations spent in their beloved Chautauqua, N.Y. during Christopher's early years were a very special family tradition. John greatly treasured time with his family at home and away.

John's compassionate and loving presence will be deeply missed. He leaves a legacy of dedication to his patients and a deep love of family and friends that will remain in our hearts forever.

John's family wishes to thank the doctors, nurses and staff at The Lawrence + Memorial Cancer Center for their excellent care and tremendous kindness, especially Drs. Richard Hellman and James Hansen, and also Drs. Robert Goldberg and Steven Schoenberger as well as Dr. Mary-Ellen Taplin and her team at The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The family is also deeply grateful to Dawn McDermott and the other nurses and staff at The Center for Hospice Care for helping to make John's last few months such a comfortable and positive experience.

Calling hours will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at The Mystic Funeral Home, Rt. 1 in Mystic. A memorial service to celebrate John's life will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 14, 2016, at the Mystic Congregational Church, 43 East Main St. in Mystic. Private burial will be at The Stonington Cemetery in Stonington.

In lieu of flowers, donations in John's memory may be made to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, Office of Development, 365 Montauk Ave., New London, CT 06320 or Doctors Without Borders, 333 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001.