William Harry Salot

1934-2024

The world has lost one of the good ones. Bill Salot was one of the greats: a great husband, father, surgeon, friend, reader, opera fan, marathon runner, and gentle mentor for his daughters and grandchildren.

Born in Mount Clemens, Michigan in 1934 to Dr. Russell F. and Katherine Salot, Bill was educated at the Cranbrook School and at Amherst College ('56). He soon married Ann Morse (Mount Holyoke '57) in 1957. The family grew with the addition of four daughters: Edith, Martha, Amy, and Lee.

Graduating from Columbia Medical School in 1960, Bill was an important part of American healthcare for over half a century. Like many doctors of his generation, he interrupted his orthopedic training to serve in the military, performing appendectomies at sea aboard a cruiser off Vietnam. He then practiced orthopedics in private practice in Detroit for most of his life. While doing so, he served for a while as Chief of Orthopedics at one of Detroit’s three major trauma hospitals. Also active with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, he ultimately became Chairman of the Board of Councilors, and even Secretary of the Academy in the 1980s. As a doctor, Bill was legendary for spending a lot of time and personal care with each of his patients, and they adored him for that. One of them commented that Dr. Salot never looked at his watch when meeting with a patient; he just listened and cared for each patient as long as they needed.

The four Salot sisters had the best teacher daughters could ask for. Dad taught us SO much. He taught us to generously care about others, as he did his whole life. He demonstrated this well by his devotion to the Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church, his generous contributions to many charities and, of course, the generosity of his time with family, friends, and patients. Even when sick with Parkinson's, Bill worried about being a burden to his wife, Ann. In turn, she cared for him devotedly for many years, allowing him the blessing of remaining at home as his disease progressed.

Bill was a guy who knew how to have fun. Whether pouring his beer at the family dinner table ("more, Dad, more!"), leading Souza marches around the living room, or placing a gargoyle on the roof to trick his wife, Bill was always about fun. Swimming down the St. Clair River to Orchard Beach, we could hear him saying, "get my bicycle, I'm ready to finish the triathlon!". When our first Airedale, Maggie, would want to wrestle with a dish towel, Bill would get down on all fours and put the dishtowel in his mouth to make sure it was a "fair fight." And he woke his daughters for school each morning by chanting, "daylight in the swamp! time to get up and chop those logs!" At his young daughters' sleepovers, he would don a horrifyingly authentic Frankenstein mask and appear at the windows, sending us into great shrieks. He was hilarious.

Bill was also devoted to health and exercise. A loyal runner for much of his life, he ran many marathons and did calisthenics in the living room long before it was trendy. And when the family went on vacation, the trips were always skiing, hiking, or biking. All of his daughters have inherited this love of exercise and adventure, and we cherish this legacy.

He was at his most content walking his dog along the beach, listening to Handel's Messiah with tears in his eyes, and reading a good historical biography. Few men are as warm, sensitive, loving, funny, thoughtful, and accepting as Bill Salot. He is one of the great ones, and we are so thankful to have had him for as long as we did.