Robert H. Hepburn

HEPBURN, Dr. Robert H. Dr. Robert Houghton Hepburn of Canton passed away at Hartford Hospital on Monday (November 26, 2007). Predeceased by his wife, Susanna (Floyd) Hepburn, to whom he had been very happily married for 64 years. The son of the late Katharine Houghton Hepburn, who had led the fight for women's right to vote and later for the legalization of birth control and abortion in Connecticut, and the son of Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn, the first doctor in Hartford who opened an office for the practice of surgery as a specialty in 1907. Dr. Robert Hepburn, predeceased by his brother Thomas Hepburn, brother of the late actress, Katharine Hepburn, and also of the late well-known local historian Marion Hepburn Grant, the late, Margaret "Peg" Hepburn Perry of Canton, head of the Canton Public Library, and his brother, the late Richard Houghton Hepburn a retired playwright. Dr. Bob first started making rounds at Hartford Hospital in 1918, at the age of 5, following hurriedly after his fast-moving father. Graduating from Kingswood School in 1931 and Harvard University in 1935, he majored in Economics as an outgrowth of the Great Depression. Continuing his studies at Harvard he graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1939, took a 2-year internship at Hartford Hospital, then a residency in Urology at the Massachusetts General Hospital 1941-43, sped up because of World War II. During the war he served in various locations till he was appointed Chief of Urology aboard the American Naval Hospital Ship "Repose" which served in the Pacific. He was at the battle of Okinawa when the Japanese surrendered, after which his ship moved to Shanghai, China where it became a base Hospital for Admiral Kincaid's 7th Fleet and the British Far Eastern Fleet. Dr. Hepburn was sent home for discharge in June of 1946 where he began his practice at Hartford Hospital that continued through July of 1973. At the age of 60, he retired to live happily at home next to his beloved Shady Grove, building stone walls along its charming Hart Meadow Brook, spending a month every summer in Fenwick, on the Connecticut shore, and taking an occasional trip abroad. Borrowing in part, the thoughts of Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut's early National Supreme Court Chief Justice, Dr. Hepburn said that he had the most pleasant wooded setting in the town of West Hartford and "I am content, perfectly content, to die on the banks of the" Hart Meadow Brook. Dr. Hepburn was a member of many medical societies, wrote many papers on clinical subjects in Urology, and was proud of his participation in the collaboration of Hartford Hospitals' Urology Service with that of The UCONN Medical School. As an advocate against the Vietnam War in the mid 1960's Dr. Hepburn found his position unpopular amongst many, yet unwavering in his resolve he proved his position was right on. As a physician, he realized he could save many more lives by ending that "pointless war" than he ever could in the practice of medicine. Unpopular as his position was at the time, he still managed to retire as Director of the Department of Urology at Hartford Hospital. Moving to Canton in 1999, to live with his daughter and son-in-law, he is survived by his son, David P. Hepburn of Glastonbury; daughter, Susanna H. Kravitz, son-in-law Robert M. Kravitz; grandchildren, Jarrett, Naomi, Owen and Olivia Kravitz of Canton and Grand-poppy to all the children who visited him over the years. Cherished by his loving nieces, nephews and friends, a supremely gentile and caring individual, he will be greatly missed by all who knew him. There will be no calling hours and the family will be having a private service. The family wishes to thank the Hartford Hospital staff of doctors and nurses who showed extraordinary compassion and care for this old "Gentleman Doctor".