Dr. Robert Carter Dillingham

Dr. Robert Carter Dillingham, known as Bob, died peacefully in Winchester, Virginia surrounded by his friends and family on October 1, 2025. He was 75.

Dr. Dillingham was born in Tallahassee, Florida, the son of William Pyrle Dillingham and Mary Marjorie Carter Dillingham.

As a high school student, Bob won an international science fair competition with his study of snake venom and antivenom.

Dr. Dillingham received his bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 1971, with a major in anthropology and minors in chemistry and art, and his Master's degree in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1976. Dr. Dillingham completed the Program in Medical Science at Florida State University in 1981. After transferring to the University of Florida Medical School in year two, he graduated in the top three in his class in 1985. In 1984, while attending medical school, Dr. Dillingham brought the first functioning electrocardiogram to a southern tropical hospital in Costa Rica. He completed his residency at the University of Virginia in 1990 and received board certification on his first testing. He began his tenure as a pathologist at the Winchester Medical Center in July of 1990 under Dr. Stuart Monroe. Dr. Dillingham served at Winchester Medical Center for over 30 years, while also working at Warren Memorial Hospital and Loudoun Memorial Hospital with Bill Silverman, M.D. and Dervila Jonas, M.D. Dr. Dillingham became a respected pillar in the Winchester medical community and was a driving force in growing the medical community's ability to deliver high quality medicine without complicated, expensive equipment. He served on the Staff Executive Committee and Physicians' Performance Committee at Winchester Medical Center.

Beyond his impressive medical career, Bob was a global citizen with a deep connection to communities around the world. Bob was an enthusiastic world traveler from a very early age. He learned Spanish before learning English and spent much of his childhood living in Spain and Central America with his parents and sister. He had a profound bond with East Africa, traveling to Tanzania several times over the last two decades. He became a Maasai elder and was committed to championing the Maasai's efforts to retain their land, especially the area surrounding the Ngorongoro Crater. Dr. Dillingham lived in Costa Rica for eight years and worked as the principal of a school dedicated to ex-patriate students, teaching physics, trigonometry, and tropical field biology. Bob had a fascination with Mayan culture. He visited most of the Mayan sites across Central America and studied Mayan history, hieroglyphics, culture, and art, including attending the Maya Meetings at the University of Texas in Austin. Dr. Dillingham had close relationships throughout Central America, and cherished his opportunity to help the communities in which he spent time. In the early 2000s, Bob coordinated providing cleft palate surgery and treatment to a young girl in Guatemala through Operation Smile.

In his spare time, Bob found joy in cultivating orchids and bonsai trees. He felt a deep peace in the woods and instilled a love for camping and travel in his children. He had a great love and respect for animals and in later years developed a fondness for horses. He was almost undefeated at Trivial Pursuit, and could frequently be seen in the early morning hours working through a crossword puzzle with his Pilot v5 pen, surrounded by his orchids and carefully curated works of art.

At his core, Bob was an artist.

Dr. Dillingham is survived by his loving wife of over 37 years, Marilyn Hamilton, his children Lenora Dillingham, Analisa Dillingham, Tyler Dillingham and Robert Carter Dillingham, Jr., his grandchildren Irie Thoms, Bette Jade Thoms and Gabe Thoms, his sister Sharon Martin and brother-in-law Randy Martin, his brother Mbogo Godwin (deceased) and his wife Magreth and their children Marilyn and Ebenezer, and his daughter Ruth Laizer and her husband Sam Dotto and their children Keren and Keziah. Bob and his family offer a heartfelt thanks for the remarkable quality of care given by the medical staff at Winchester Medical Center in his final days, most importantly that of Dr. Frank Lewis.

Funeral arrangements are private and, in lieu of flowers, donations in Bob's memory can be made to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.