Dorothy U. Wright, MD

Dorothy U. Wright, MD

June 5, 1930 ~ September 5, 2024

Beloved mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, colleague, teacher, mentor and friend, Dorothy Urban Wright (Dotty) passed away peacefully at her home in Fayetteville, New York on September 5, 2024, with her children at her side.

Dotty was the first child of Willard Edward Urban, Sr. and Mary Georgine Harding Urban, born on June 5, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. Intrepid even as a young girl, she often tarried on her way home from school to watch trains rush by on the elevated platforms. She delighted in walks with her dad along the shores of Lake Michigan.

The family moved to Arlington, Virginia when Dotty was 7. Growing up there, she loved to roller skate, ride her bike and explore the museums in nearby Washington, D.C. At age 12, after seeing Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom (which would become her all-time favorite film), she decided to become a physician. It was a bold choice for a woman at that time and many would seek to discourage her but she remained resolute. Thus began her lifelong quest to help others.

Her academic pursuits began in earnest at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where her freshman Chemistry Lab tutor was one A. William (Bill) Wright—he was later fond of recalling that they “had great chemistry,” though he waited until the course ended to ask her out. Or was their first date really at a Sadie Hawkins dance (where women invited men)?? Two months after her college graduation they married, in August of 1951.

After one post-baccalaureate year spent in a biology lab, Dotty ignored once and for all the frequent advice second-guessing her ambition to go to medical school and matriculated at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond in 1952, on a full 4-year scholarship as one of the first Florence L. Smith Scholars. She went on to receive numerous other awards for outstanding achievements during medical school but always avowed none could compete with the arrival of her cherished first child late in her 3rd year. While husband Bill was half a world away serving as “Ship’s Doctor” aboard the Midway (a Navy wartime aircraft carrier near Japan), Stephen was born in mid-1955. By then nearly certain about a career in pediatrics, Dotty always said her powerful love for her own child solidified this plan.

Dotty and Bill pursued their specialty medical training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and at Harvard (Tufts in Bill’s case) in Boston, where there were two more joyous additions to the growing Wright family in 1957 and 1958. Their next move was to Syracuse in 1960, where Bill opened his solo neurology practice and their last child arrived in 1963.

Already busy raising four young children, in 1961-1963 Dotty pursued two years of additional residency and fellowship training in pediatrics, followed by part-time work for Syracuse Head Start, the Syracuse Department of Public Health and the Syracuse Cerebral Palsy Center, eventually serving as its Medical Coordinator for five years, until 1975 when she again resumed post-graduate pediatric training, this time including a stint in SUNY Upstate’s neonatal ICU.

Bolstered by this additional experience, in 1976 Dotty joined private group pediatric practices in Fulton and Oswego, New York and then in 1977 launched her own thriving, nearly-18-year solo pediatric practice in Oswego.

1996 saw Dotty’s return to working in Syracuse, initially in a general pediatric practice and sub-specializing in asthma care, but soon broadening her scope of practice yet again, in a pivot toward Palliative Care and Medical Ethics—after moving her elderly parents to Syracuse and assisting in their daily care instilled a desire to better address elders’ needs, especially near life’s end.

Her first job in these areas was as a volunteer Assistant Physician for [adult] Hospice of Central New York beginning in 1996, and by 2000 she was teaching Medical Ethics to SUNY Upstate medical students and providing Ethics Consults at Crouse Hospital, where she went on to co-found the Palliative Care Service in 2003. Dotty finished her career there, finally “retiring” in 2010 just before her 80th birthday. Only the Covid pandemic fully halted her work, however—she continued offering part-time counseling to patients near the end of life for Crouse Hospital’s Spiritual Care team through mid-March of 2020.

Dotty’s physician volunteer work had its roots in one notable international venue: she and Bill volunteered for a month in both 1980 and 1981 at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti, where patients might walk and/or wait in line for days to receive care.

Outside of work, Dotty enjoyed her many and varied interests. She and Bill, once all their children were launched, had moved in 1984 to their “dream house”—a cozy 3-bedroom that not only reminded her of a Swiss chalet but most importantly gave her walk-in access to her beloved Green Lakes State Park. There she cherished daily outings, whether for jogging, cross-country skiing (though for this she most loved Highland Forest), biking, or walking and finding wildflowers; she persisted in doing all (except jogging) whenever she could well into her early 90s, and then continued daily walks “by the lake” in all but the worst weather until halfway through her 94th year.

And of course when she wasn’t working or exercising she doted on her family, which in addition to her children and many nieces and nephews, further expanded to include five grandchildren and three (so far) great-grandchildren. After the death of her loving husband Bill in 2004 she still enjoyed reading (usually Dickens and biographies), following current events, and her other loves of travel (especially to Switzerland), arriving trains (!), and countless opera, classical music and dance performances.

Dotty is survived by her four loving children Stephen (Karen), David (Susan Jones), Julie, and Susan (Phillip Stern); brother Willard E. Urban, Jr.; grandchildren Colin, Madeleine, Emma, Jack and Benjamin; and great-grandchildren Amelia, Gabriella and Emmanuel.

There will be a Celebration of Life held on June 7th, 2025, at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 109 Waring Road Syracuse, NY 13224 at 2pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to honor Dotty by donating to one or more of the charitable organizations that meant the most to her:

Hospice of Central New York

Palliative Medicine at Crouse Hospital

Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (hashaiti.org)

Meals on Wheels

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