Ezekiel Hunter Wilson, Jr., M.D.

Ezekiel Hunter Wilson, Jr., M.D. who carried the lifelong nickname of Dooner, died of congestive heart failure on July 13, 2015 at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

Dr. Wilson was the son of E. Hunter Wilson, a businessman in Cambridge, MD, and his wife Shirley Skinner Wilson. He and his sister, Hannah Firth of Baltimore, enjoyed a wonderful childhood surrounded by loving family on Oakley Street near the Choptank River, and both looked back on those years with great nostalgia. He graduated from Cambridge High School in 1944 and then attended Princeton University from which he graduated in 1949, having spent a year on active duty in the Navy during World War II aboard the destroyer tender U.S.S. Prairie.  He then entered the Johns Hopkins Medical School, graduating in 1953.  After an internship at Philadelphia General Hospital, he returned to Johns Hopkins for his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in endocrinology directed by Dr. Samuel Asper.  He practiced internal medicine in Baltimore for 43 years, first at the Medical Arts Building on Cathedral Street and later on University Parkway and at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.  He was also an attending physician at Keswick for 30 years.

The greatest pleasures and satisfactions in his life were derived from his family, of whom he was very proud, and from his medical practice from which many of his patients became close friends. Two of his favorite endeavors outside of medicine, competitive bridge and tennis, were pursued with enthusiasm at the Elkridge Club, where he was a member for nearly 50 years.  He was also fond of playing the piano, listening to classical music and writing.  Two of his novels were published:  In My Father’s House, (1992) based on his experiences at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and The Gemini Mutation, (2008) which was a science fiction tale about an older man who suddenly becomes younger.

Shortly before Dr. Wilson’s retirement in 2001, an endowed lecture fund was established at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, known as the Hunter Wilson, Jr. M.D. Lecture in Internal Medicine.  The Fund’s purpose is to provide continuing education to the GBMC physicians. Many medical colleagues, friends and grateful patients made gifts in his honor so the hospital could attract distinguished physicians as speakers at the annual event.

His wife of 24 years, Valerie Ash Wilson, survives him, along with his sister Hannah Firth of Baltimore, his daughters Louisa Murphy of Baltimore, Emily Murphy of Worton, MD; step-daughters Charlotte Harvey of New York and Eleanor Hartman of Oberreixing, Germany; and step-son Colston Young of San Francisco.  Dr. Wilson also leaves three grandchildren, Hunter, Anna Jayne and Waylon Murphy.   His first marriage to Anna O’Donovan Wilson ended in divorce.

A memorial service was celebrated at the Church of the Redeemer at 5603 N. Charles Street in Baltimore on Monday, July 20, 2015.  Inurnment will take place in the fall at Christ Episcopal Church in Cambridge, Maryland.