Walter Thomas Rymzo Jr., MD

Walter Thomas Rymzo Jr., MD passed peacefully on August 16th, 2025 at the Laurentide assisted living community in Mashpee, MA after living most of his life at his longtime home in West Hyannisport on Cape Cod. He was 81 years old.

Walter was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 7th, 1943, the only child of Walter and Elizabeth Rymzo. He grew up in a hard-working Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn, where little came easy, and where he would eventually meet his wife, Inara. With support from his beloved Uncle Doc and Aunt Jo, he attended Poly Prep, studied hard, played quarterback for the football team, and made lifelong friends. He attended The Johns Hopkins University, and after returning to teach for a year at Poly, went on to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1970.

Walter completed his Internship at Boston City Hospital and then lived in Puerto Rico completing a fellowship with the US Public Health Service researching infectious disease, an interest he sustained and applied throughout his career. He returned to Boston to complete his residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and then joined a private practice on Cape Cod, where he and Inara would raise their family. He later worked as chief of medicine for the medical department at MIT and returned to practice with Cape Cod Healthcare, and eventually as a concierge physician.

Walter dedicated himself to the practice of medicine for more than 40 years. Coming of age as a physician in a different era, he often took time to flip over a notepad to draw a picture to help explain a complex medical problem to a patient. Walter loved being a doctor and never tired of spending extra time with patients in need. He deeply valued the vibrant medical community of friends and colleagues on the Cape, many of whom practiced together over decades. He served as Chief of Staff at Cape Cod Hospital from 1985 to 1987, as Chair of the Institutional Review Board for many years overseeing clinical research, and as a board member of the hospital’s captive insurance company.

When off duty, Walter enjoyed being outside, read voraciously, and loved time together with family and friends. Neighbors could always find him walking the beach near his home (summer or winter) with his many faithful dogs. In the summers he often took time for himself camping on the islands of Lake George in upstate New York, where years before he had camped with his family. He skied all around the northeast with his young family and later enjoyed many ski trips out West. He relished time on the water, sailing together with friends in regattas around Massachusetts and Rhode Island, fishing for stripers in the rips off Monomoy with his sons, and exploring coastal Maine on summer sailing trips. Friends also knew they could count on Walter to recommend a good bottle of wine, an indulgence he loved sharing with friends around the table at tastings and dinners over the years.

Walter’s wife Inara predeceased him in 2021. He is survived by his sons Ben and Matt, their wives Isabel and Susan, and his granddaughters Celina, Camila, Isabel, and Harper. Services will be private. Online respects or remembrances may be left at www.dignitymemorial.com. In lieu of flowers or other gifts, consider a donation in Walter’s name to Cape Cod Hospital (www.capecodhealth.org/cape-cod-healthcare-foundation), Massachusetts General Hospital (https://giving.massgeneral.org), or Cure Alzheimer’s Fund (www.curealz.org).