Dr. Harold J. White

Dr. Harold White, 95, died peacefully on Sunday, January 4, 2015—his 95th birthday, surrounded by his children. Dr. White was a devoted father, a loving husband, a brilliant physician, a gifted musician, and a true gentleman.

Raised in the Boston area, Dr. White attended Brookline High School, graduated with honors, and was admitted to Harvard College, where he earned a magna cum laude degree in Music. Upon graduating in 1941, Dr. White enlisted to serve in World War II. He joined the US Army Air Corp and was assigned to the Anti-Submarine Command. He was an in-flight communications officer, flying missions over the Atlantic Ocean.

He was a talented violinist; as a teenager, he was one of the very few candidates accepted to study with the Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Dr. White played in orchestras, quartets and ensembles throughout his college career, frequently accompanying Leonard Bernstein, a Harvard classmate. So great was his love of music that in his youth he routinely rode his bicycle over 100 miles from his home in Brookline to Tanglewood, where he would sneak under the hedges to hear the Boston Symphony in their summer venue.

Following travels around Europe and the Middle East in the years after the World War, Dr. White decided to attend medical school. With only a rudimentary knowledge of French, he enrolled in the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and proceeded to master the language on his ocean voyage from the US to Europe, during which he contracted a fever and was quarantined with a group of French soldiers.

After graduating from medical school in 1952, Dr. White began his residency at Yale University, and, upon completion was recruited to join the faculty of a new medical center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Intrigued by the opportunity, Dr. White accepted the job and soon rose to positions of leadership at the University of Arkansas Medical School and Veterans Administration Hospital.

While he lived in Little Rock, Dr. White was engaged in the small but active Jewish community, helped to launch the Arkansas Symphony (serving as its concert master), and most importantly, met the love of his life, Lucette.

In 1980, Dr. White was offered a biomedical research laboratory at General Motors in Michigan to study the effects of various automotive substances on the lung. During his six-year tenure at GM, Dr. White published over 100 research papers. Actively involved in the medical profession well after his “retirement,” Dr. White participated in biomedical research meetings at MIT into his 90s.

Together, he and Lucette raised four children, became respected patrons of the arts and sciences, traveled extensively, and had an enormous circle of friends. They shared 51 wonderful years together, the last 30 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where they constantly hosted family and friends with grace, warmth and generosity.

Dr. White is survived by his children and their spouses: Dr. Elizabeth Harris and Dr. Jonathan Ross of Andover, MA, Dr. James and Darby Logan of Boone, NC, Matthew and Keri White of Philadelphia, PA, and Esther and Rex Vanier of Hamilton, MA; and his nine grandchildren: Olivia and Whitfield Logan; Sam, Riley and Dylan Ross; Kate and Will Vanier; and Cormick and Kelsey White. His beloved wife, Lucette Darby White, predeceased him, as did his sisters Beatrice White, Gertrude Farber, and Esther Atkins.

Services in the Chapel at Sharon Memorial Park, Sharon, MA on Wednesday, January 7 at 10:00am.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to Rockport Music, 37 Main St., Rockport, MA 01966.