Dr. ROBERT EDWARD CROZIER

1923 - 2017

CROZIER
Dr. Robert Edward, 94 died peacefully Saturday morning, September 2, 2017, at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, MA. Dr, Crozier worked as a gastroenterologist at Lahey for 39 years from 1954 to 1993. He was born in Portland Maine on March 9, 1923, the third of five children of Joseph Crozier, an engineer with the Maine Central Railroad, and Harriet, an elementary school teacher in the Portland public school system. Dr Crozier was a graduate of Bowdoin College and Georgetown University School of Medicine. On January 15, 1959, he married Mary Clayton, a feature writer with the Boston Herald- American and a media consultant. Dr. Crozier's wife survives him along with their two children, Matthew and Julia. Dr. Crozier was a man of many talents. He also was determined, accomplished, Kind, gentle and caring. He loved music, enjoyed painting and was a fine carpenter (having acquired these skills from his father). While at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center (known as the Lahey Clinic before moving to Burlington). Dr. Crozier published several articles on diseases of the esophagus and he founded Lahey's Esophageal Motility Laboratory. In addition to his gifts as a medical caregiver, Dr. Crozier also proved a stellar fundraiser for Lahey, serving as a founding member of the hospital's Alumni Association and as its Executive Director from 1968 until 1988. In 1988 a grateful patient of Dr. Crozier established the Robert E. Crozier Gastroenterology Endowment Fund to honor Dr. Crozier for his medical expertise and his devotion to his patients. The fund supports a yearly lecture in Gastroenterology that brings together leaders in the field who are advancing cutting edge new treatment protocols. Dr. Crozier was a member of the American Medical Association and the Mass Medical Society as well as a fellow at the American College of Gastroenterology and a member of the Endoscopic Society of North America. He also was an exceptional athlete and, at over six feet 2 inches tall, he played basketball and baseball for both Portland High School and Bowdoin College in Maine. The Boston Red Sox expressed interest in Dr. Crozier as a pitcher even while he was in high school. World War II intervened, however and Dr. Crozier interrupted his studies at Bowdoin to join the Navy where he served as a deck officer on a U.S. Tank Landing ship in the Pacific. He returned to Bowdoin to graduate, and then earned his medical degree at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. When Dr. Crozier completed his medical residency, he served as Ship's Doctor aboard the S.S. United States, flagship of the United States Lines, and he did so for several trans-Atlantic crossings. Dr. Crozier's love of the sea sprang from growing up in Portland, the port city to which he returned from his adopted home in Boston throughout his lifetime. Late in life Dr. Crozier took up running as a fitness regime, that led him to race annually in the Boston Marathon in the late 70's and early 80's. For over 50 years he was a member of the University Club in Boston, where he excelled at swimming and squash. He cherished his early morning exertions there and the breakfasts that followed with his friends in the Early Birds Club. When not in Boston, Dr. Crozier could be found at his family's seaside cottage in Cape Neddick or with members of the extended Crozier family in the Portland, Maine area. Dr. Crozier was pre-deceased by his older siblings, twins Margaret and Joseph, his younger sister Katherine, and a younger brother Philip. Eleven nieces and nephews survive him: Greg, Beth, Colleen, Robert, and Joseph Crozier: Kathy, David and Ann Crosson: Philip, Patrick and Deborah Marshall. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in memory of Dr. Robert Crozier. Gifts will support research, education and patient care. Please send your gift to Philanthropy Office, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, 41 Mall Road, Burlington, MA 01805. You also may donate at Giving.LaheyHealth.org/Donate. His funeral mass will be celebrated on Saturday, September 9, 2017, at St. Cecilia Church, 18 Belvidere St., Boston. Immediately following the service, a reception will be held at the Hilton Back Bay Boston (next to church). Friends and relatives are respectfully invited to attend