Ralph Stoddard Sharman M.D.

1944 - 2025

Ralph Stoddard Sharman, M.D.
02/09/1944 - 12/16/2025
Ralph Stoddard Sharman, M.D. was born in Houston, Texas on February 9, 1944. He was educated at St. Anne's Catholic School in Houston and at St. Joseph's, a three-room schoolhouse in Bandera, Texas, with his eight brothers and sisters. He later attended St. Edward's University High School in Austin where he was All District full back for the football team. He received his undergraduate degree at Rice University in 1966. And he married Virginia Leigh Marye on December 27th, 1967.

He earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1970. In 1968, while still a medical student, he co-founded, along with U.S. representative Mickey Leland, the Jensen Street Clinic, dispensing free medical care long before the Harris County Hospital satellite clinics.

He completed his residency in radiology at Ben Taub public hospital and would go on to become Chief of Radiology at Ben Taub from 1975 to 1985. While at Ben Taub, he oversaw millions of dollars in capital expenditures, innovating the use of imaging equipment in the emergency department.

At Texas Women's Hospital, he and his partner Dr. Frank Hadlock pioneered the use of ultrasound imaging in obstetrics, such as estimating fetal age and weight. Some of their data is still used to this day. He opened the first free-standing mammography clinic in Houston in the 1970s.

Dr. Sharman devoted his professional life to the practice of medicine and to the care of his patients, bringing intelligence, discipline, and a strong sense of responsibility to his work. He was a renowned and brilliant diagnostician, and was known for his sensitivity and compassion for his patients. Medicine was not simply a profession for him, but a defining part of his identity and a field in which he sought and achieved excellence.

He was preceded in death by his parents Jim and Catherine Sharman, his brother Robert, and his granddaughter Lily.

He is survived by his devoted wife Virginia "Ginny" Sharman, his three children, Ralph Jr., M.D. (Pamela), Russell (Cheryl), and Marye, his grandchildren Will, Sarah, and Piper, and great-granddaughter Wednesday, his siblings Bill Sharman (Kathleen), Mary Singleton (Bob), John Sharman, George Sharman (Barbara), JoAnne Creasey (Pete), Martha Sharman M.D. (Warren Reid, M.D.), Charlie Sharman, and his sister-in-law Gina Sharman.

A memorial service will be held at St. Anne's Catholic Church on Friday, January 9th at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Covenant House.