Dr. William V. Lorimer, Jr.

Dr William (Bill) V. Lorimer, Jr, a much-loved husband, father, and physician to the Durham community, left this world on Thursday afternoon at home in Cary, North Carolina. He was 71. Bill???s death came after a four-month battle with paneeatic cancer. The sun shone brightly as he crossed into heaven. He leaves behind his wife of 46 years Marcia Sciretta Lorimer, his sons Stephen William Lorimer of Londoneengland and David Pearson Lorimer of Durham, sisters Judith Pearson Lorimer of Perry, OH and Robyn Ann Lorimer of Tampa, FL, special cousin Janee Wootton of Lawrenceville, GA, and maneextended family members. Bill was preceded ineeath by his parents, William V. Lorimer, Sr and Marjorie Nitze Lorimer. He was born on March 7, 1946 in Portsmouth, Virginia at the end of his father???s service in the Coast Guard and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. His undergraduate degree was from Rice Uneersity after which he attended Mount Sinai Medical School ineew York where he met Marcia who was a nursing student at Mount Sinai School of Nursing. They married on June 12, 1971 in Moorestown, NJ. Bill completed his post graduate internal medicine training at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai, after which he completed a fellowship in Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He was awarded a National Library of Medicine grant and a prestigious career development award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to support his fellowship and research activities. His area of expertise concerned the effect of asbestos exposure on individuals who performed brake lining. In addition to his medical work during this time, he was proud to say that he ran and completed the New York City Marathon twice. In 1980, Bill decided that he missed the interaction of seeing patients on a daily basis. He was recruited for a position at a National Health Service clinic in Chatham, Virginia, filling a great need for care in rural Pittsylvania County. He relocated to North Carolina in 1992 as a partner at Central Internal Medicine in Durham until its closing in 2009. In addition to his practice, Bill became the medical director and attending physician at several nursing homes and held an attending staff position at Duke Regional Hospital. At the time of his diagnosis, he was semi-retired and an attending physician at Carver Living Center in Durham. He loved caring for the elderly. His three loves outside of work and family were singing in choir at church, sailing his Beneeau First 21, and caring for his cats. In his semi-retirement, he decided to write a hymn, which he started before his diagnosis and completed during his treatment. The hymn, ???A Christian in Community???, was sung by the Chancel Choir and coneegation at the December 3 Sunday service at his beloved First Presbyterian Church, Durham. It was streamed to him live and it gave him great joy. He learned his love of sailing in the children???s summer camps owned and operated by three generations of his family in Ohio. He found great peace and tranquility while sailing and in interacting with his cats, Harleigh and Oreo. The Lorimer family sends a special thank you to all of Bill???s medical, nursing, and hospice providers at Duke for their support and care. A thank you is also extended to Hall-Wynne Funeral Service & Crematory for the arrangements. A memorial service ineelebration of Bill???s life will be held for him oneebruary 10, 2018 at 3 pm at First Presbyterian Church, 305 E Main St, Durham, NC 27701. The family requests that memorial donations be made to First Presbyterian in lieu of flowers. Before then, a brief interment service will be held in the Memorial Garden at First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, December 17, shortly after the 11 am Sunday church service of Lessons & Carols ends. Arrangements are with Hall-Wynne Funeral Service & Crematory.