Gerald "Jerry" J. Phaneuf

Gerald “Jerry” J. Phaneuf, M.D., of the Mount Washington Valley, passed away peacefully on September 23, 2025, at the age of 89, after a short period of palliative care at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital in Plymouth, MA.

Born on November 13, 1935, in Woonsocket, RI, Jerry sped through his studies and graduated from Woonsocket High School at the tender age of sixteen. A devout Catholic, he attended Providence College and then earned his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1960, while still only twenty-four years old. Jerry pursued a life of service through medicine, entrepreneurship, board participation, and family.

After completing a pathology residency in Boston and Salem, MA, while also serving as a Captain in the Army National Guard and Reserves, Jerry began his career as an Associate Pathologist at Truesdale Hospital in Fall River, MA in 1965. He became the Chief of Pathology in 1969 and retained that position until he and his partners sold the lab in 1974 to the Damon Clinical Laboratory, a division of the Damon Corporation. Damon was rolling up small local labs into regional locations and Jerry became the Director of Laboratory at Damon. Part of Damon’s strategy involved creating efficiencies through emerging technology. Working directly with IBM programmers, Jerry drove the development of software that automated many lab testing procedures.

In 1980 Jerry left the corporate world to return to a hospital setting as the Chief Pathologist at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. Jerry spent the last fifteen years of his career at CMMC. In addition to his duties as Chief Pathologist, he served as the only MD on the Board of Directors of Central Maine Healthcare in the early 1990s. Jerry was respected by colleagues for his expertise, leadership, and dedication. They also got a kick out the fact that he often commuted to work from NH in his small plane - dragging it out of the hanger by hand in his suit.

Beyond medicine, Jerry’s entrepreneurial spirit and civic duty thrived. He owned and operated J’s Creamery and Family Restaurant, J’s Real Estate, and Management Services, Inc., which for many years performed all of the billing for CMMC’s pathology services. He served on the Community Service Board of Directors for the United Way of Greater Fall River 1967-72 and chaired the United Fund Campaign in 1972. Jerry followed up his United Way service by serving on the Board of Directors of the Fall River National Bank from 1973-1974.

Upon selling his laboratory business in 1974, Jerry moved his family to the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire. He believed strongly in the hearty, outdoor lifestyle the area offered and wanted his children to grow up in the beautiful ski town of North Conway. NH’s lack of an income tax may have influenced the decision! Fifty-one years later, the Phaneuf family continues to maintain their home in the Valley, a lasting tribute to Jerry’s long-ago vision and his love of the tranquility of the area.

Jerry is survived by his devoted wife of 63 years, Joanne B. Phaneuf; his five children, Dr. Mary Ann Gardner, Jill Pertain and husband Clark, John Phaneuf and his wife Mikelanne, Mark Phaneuf and his wife Lee, and Eric Phaneuf; his eight beloved grandchildren; his sister, Jackie Flick, brother- in-law Joseph Borgatti and his wife Julie, and sister-in-law Lori Jardarian and her husband Bruce. He will be remembered as a man of determination, loyalty and generosity, who inspired those around him to be their best.

The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and staff of the acute care elderly team at Beth Israel Deaconess in Plymouth, MA for their loving care in Jerry’s last weeks. A private family service will be held, with a celebration of life planned at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, to celebrate his faith in God and love of dogs (especially Scottish Terriers), donations may be made in Jerry’s memory to either Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Parish in North Conway, NH, or the Conway Area Humane Society.