John Laurance Hill

1936 - 2022

Doctor John Laurance (Larry) Hill passed from this life on July 23, 2022 in the Charlestown Senior Community, Catonsville, MD, at age 86. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Charlotte, daughter Mary Magnus, son David Hill, brother Robert (Laura) Hill, and grandchildren Rebecca and Taylor Magnus and Zachary Hill. He was predeceased by his parents, sister Jacklyn Ack, and son John Jeffrey Hill.

Larry Hill was born June 7, 1936 in Columbus, OH to Winfrith E. and Mary Margaret (Evans) Hill. Coached in music by his mother in preschool years, music was a large part of his life. He attended the Columbus Boychoir School for 2 1/2 years, was a soloist, traveled with the choir and enjoyed visiting new places. He excelled as a violinist in high school. An able student, he also always had a job of some kind. On high school graduation, aged 17, he hitch-hiked the Alcan Highway to Alaska, alone, seeking work to earn money for college. His Anchorage employers hired him for the next four summers until he completed a B.A. degree at Ohio Wesleyan University.

He went on to Ohio State University Medical School in Columbus, OH, where he completed a General Surgery residency before serving as an Army surgeon in Viet Nam. After a period doing research on liver transplantation in Denver, CO, he moved to Washington, D.C. for training in Thoracic Surgery at George Washington University and Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the Washington Children's Hospital. He held certifications in General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery and Thoracic Surgery.

For the next 5 years, Dr. Hill was Assistant Professor of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Chicago, also assisting the transplantation program there. In 1977, he was recruited to develop a Pediatric Surgery service at the University of Maryland Hospital and to co-found the first joint training program in Pediatric Surgery in the country, linking the University of Maryland and The Johns Hopkins University Hospitals.

Dr. Hill was a member of numerous surgical associations, received awards for excellence in teaching, earned the Salzberg Award for mentoring by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and is named Emeritus Professor of Surgery at the University of Maryland where a professorial chair in Pediatric Surgery is being established in his name. In his years at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Hill mentored dozens of pediatric surgery fellows and hundreds of surgical residents and medical students. He left a lasting imprint at the School of Medicine with his dedication to education and patient care and his leadership.

A private family burial will be in Ohio. A Baltimore memorial event will be held at a later date.