Dr. Harry W. Fritts Jr. Dr. Harry W. Fritts Jr., Professor and the first Chair Emeritus of the Department of Medicine at Stony Brook School of Medicine, passed away on April 22, 2011. A long time resident of Northport, New York, Dr. Fritts was 89 years old. Born in 1921, he was one of two children born to Harry and Hyder Fritts of Rockwood, a coal mining town in eastern Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt University, later transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he obtained a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. In 1942, he enlisted in the navy, achieving the position of Commanding Officer, USS LST 461. He served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater (Four Stars) and in the Philippine Liberation (Two Stars). He was involved in the invasions of Saipan, Tinian, Leyte Gulf, Nasugbu Bay, Linguyan Gulf, Okinawa, and a participant in the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Though trained in electrical engineering, he decided to pursue a life-long dream to attend medical school and was admitted to the Boston University School of Medicine. After graduation, he worked at Columbia University's prestigious Pulmonary Function Laboratory at Bellevue Hospital in New York with Drs. Andre Cournand and Dickinson Richards, whose groundbreaking research earned them the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology and revolutionized the fields of modern cardiology and pulmonology. Dr. Fritts later succeeded Dr. Cournand as the laboratory director specializing in cardio-pulmonary physiology. Certified in internal medicine, he pursued his passion for academic medicine as a Professor at Columbia University, and as a Visiting Professor at the University of London and a William Harris Visiting Professor at the National Medical School of Taiwan. His appointments include the Dickinson W. Richards Chair of Medicine at Columbia University, the Visiting Senior Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Edmund D. Pellegrino Chair of Medicine at Stony Brook University. He retired as a Professor and the first Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stony Brook in 1987. A former welterweight boxer and fraternity wrestler, Dr. Fritts' hobbies included philosophy, fly fishing, and writing. He authored On Leading a Clinical Department, a Guide for Physicians (1997, John Hopkins University Press), and wrote a number of short stories and articles, many of which have been published. He had a passion for reading, a zest for life, a love of music, an undying devotion to his wife Helen, and a wry sense of humor. He believed that no man was beyond saving and that in every man there was good, if not greatness. He served as a Deacon and Elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Northport. Dr. Fritts is survived by many colleagues, friends and loved ones including three children; John, Ben and Pat, and five grandchildren. He passed away comfortably with family at his bedside. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m.., Saturday, April 30th at the First Presbyterian Church of Northport. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Northport or the Salvation Army.