William Henry Hark MD

On April 6, 2017 Dr. William H. Hark died of complications from heart disease. He was 84. William H. Hark, M.D., M.P.H. was a native of Charleston, West Virginia, eldest child of the late Zundel and Esther (Henry) Hark. Educated in local Schools, he was a 1950 graduate of Charleston High School. He received Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees from West Virginia University in 1954 and 1955 and the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College of Virginia in 1957.

Dr. Hark entered the U.S. Army in 1956 through the Army Senior Medical Student Program and served an internship at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C. from 1957 to 1958. Following short assignments in Greenland, Labrador, and Fort Meade, Maryland, he became an Army flight surgeon through training at the U.S. Air Force School of Aviation Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. He had additional assignments at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia and the Office of the Army Surgeon General in Washington. He entered the formal medical specialty training program in Aerospace Medicine in 1962 and received the degree of Master of Public Health from the Harvard University School of Public Health in 1963. After two more years of formal training, he was assigned to the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama as Assistant Chief, Aviation Medicine, and Deputy Director of the aviation school's Department of Aeromedical Education and Training. He was certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in 1966. This was followed by attendance at the Army Command and General Staff College, then by assignment in 1968 as Surgeon, First Aviation Brigade and Aviation Medical Consultant to the Commanding General, U.S. Army, Vietnam. He also was consultant to the Commander, First Medical Brigade and to the Surgeon, Military Advisory Command, Vietnam.

Following his assignment in Vietnam, Dr. Hark served in the Office of the Army Surgeon General as Chief, Aviation Branch, and Consultant in Aviation Medicine. He later helped establish and directed the Surgeon General's Office of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Control and served on several multiservice and international committees with responsibilities in Aerospace Medicine.

Dr. Hark's awards include the Army Legion of Merit with Cluster, the Air Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Civil Action Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm. He was rated as a Master Army Flight Surgeon.

After retirement from the Army with the rank of Colonel in 1976, Dr. Hark joined the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Aviation Medicine in Washington, D.C. and served in increasingly responsible positions until becoming the Deputy Federal Air Surgeon in 1992. He retired again in July 1999.

He was a member of the United States Senior Executive Service and received the Secretary of Transportation's Award for Meritorious Achievement and the Tamiseia Award of the Aerospace Medical Association. Dr. Hark was a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Hark is survived by his wife of 56 years, Claudette Watson Hark, of Alexandria, Virginia; a son, William Tucker Hark, M.D.; two granddaughters, Anne Berkley Hark and Dabney Prescott Hark, all of Richmond, Virginia; and one sister, Susan Hark Simon of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was preceded in death by brother Thomas Gary Hark and sister Floralee Hark Cohen, both of Charleston, West Virginia. Funeral services will be at Arlington National Cemetery on a date to be determined.

Arrangements under the direction of Demaine Funeral Home, Alexandria, VA.