Thomas Robert White MD

Obituary for Thomas Robert White, MD

Thomas Robert White died peacefully surrounded by family. He is survived by his wife, Ellen Anne White; his children Lisa White (married to Jeff Stoodt), Stuart White (married to Kerry Doyle White), Jabin White (married to Meg Moreland White), and Alex White (married to Marci Mendel White); his eight grandchildren Grady Stoodt, Arlo Stoodt, Lindsay White Kroll, Colin White, Grayson White, Kate White, Tommy White, and Harper White; and his great-grandchild, Hudson Kroll.

Born in Detroit to Lucile Waltz White and Edward White, Tom spent his high school years in Homestead, Florida, where his family moved when he was 14. After becoming the first Eagle Scout in the continental United States (south of Miami), he majored in history at Emory University, then graduated from Emory Medical School. While doing a residency at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton, Massachusetts, he went on a blind date with a friend of his roommate's girlfriend. After she told him, "I'd go anywhere with you," he married Ellen Anne Livingstone, from Weymouth, Massachusetts. "Anywhere" turned out to be St. Petersburg, Florida, where, for more than 40 years, he had a busy pediatric practice, and together they raised four children. When Tom retired from pediatrics in 2003, he and Ellen moved to Milton, Massachusetts, to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren. They had more than 20 full and happy retired years at Fuller Village.

Tom was a long-distance runner who ran dozens of marathons and founded the Suncoast Runners Club. In the 1970s, before the running boom, Tom could be spotted running throughout the Bay Area, and he organized races around St. Petersburg for years, including the popular 7.5-mile " Bay to Bay " race from Boca Ciega Bay to Tampa Bay. When he stopped running, he took up racewalking and won a World Master's Racewalking Championship (though it was a boycott year). Among his other interests were classical music (he built his own harpsichord and was a devoted attendee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra); hiking in the Smoky Mountains; baseball (including visits to 23 Major League ballparks during annual baseball weekends with his sons); growing citrus, Muscadine grapes (and winemaking), and avocados in his Florida backyard; tennis and Ping Pong, and Scrabble.

He impacted thousands of lives through his pediatric practice, enriched his community through the Suncoast Runners Club and other activities, and served as a model of kindness, gentleness, and integrity to his children and grandchildren. Tom's love and devotion to his wife of 65 years and to his family and friends will be forever cherished and remembered.

A Celebration of Life will be held at First Parish Milton at a later date.