On September 30, 2023, we experienced the passing of William "Bill" Merritt, Jr., 77.  He is survived by his beloved wife, Alicia Merritt; devoted children William Merritt, III and his wife Elizabeth; Ryan Merritt and his wife Margarita; and Caitlin Merritt; and loving grandchildren William, IV, Rafael, Tucker and Logan; and former spouse Helen Merritt (nee Bunker).

Bill was born in Easton, MD, and was the oldest of three children (brother Walter "Kip" 1954-2009 and sister Deborah 1948-2002) by father, William "Bill", Sr. (1921-2006) and mother, Marie (1918-2001).  He spent most of his childhood in Easton where his grandfather James Black Merritt III was the "town doctor" in the early 20th century.  Bill's family later moved to Emmitsburg, MD, where he graduated top of his class from both St. Joseph's High School in 1964 and Mount St. Mary's College in 1968, majoring in biology and chemistry.  He then went onto become a doctor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (class of 1972).  He enlisted in the Army in his senior year of medical school and later served as a physician at the Kimbrough Army Hospital at Ft. Meade and the US Army Hospital in Berlin, Germany.  He then completed a pediatrics residency at the University of Maryland.  After fulfilling service to the Army, Bill re-enlisted in the US Navy and served until 1990, rising to the rank of Commander.  While in the Navy, he finished an infectious disease fellowship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and studied therapy for childhood schistosomiasis at the University of Cairo Medical School in Cairo, Egypt.  In 1982, Bill switched fields and entered an anesthesia residency at Johns Hopkins, where he stayed to serve on the faculty for almost 40 years.  In the late 1980s, Bill joined a nascent liver transplant program at Hopkins, assisting with the first-ever liver transplant at the institution, and over the years since, helped it grow into one of the highest volume and finest liver centers in the country.  Education and research of liver transplant anesthesia and perioperative care became his leading professional focus.

Bill's contributions to academic medicine, anesthesia, and transplant medicine are too numerous to adequately summarize.  Probably one of his prouder achievements was helping to found the International Liver Transplant Society (ILTS), which has grown from an outshoot of the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting to its own Annual Congress whose almost two thousand surgeon, hepatologist, transfusionist, and anesthesiologist members span the globe.  The research and education fostered at the ILTS have advanced transplant medicine from its early experimental days to a safe, routine, and profoundly life-changing procedure.  Across his 51 years as a physician, Bill cared for thousands of patients and comforted thousands more through complicated operative events with his expert-level knowledge and warm bedside manner.

Away from the hospital, Bill enjoyed cycling, sailing, photography, antiquities, puns, well-aged single malts, family history, the Maryland eastern shore, and his four young grandchildren.  He was an enormous presence in our lives and gave the full breadth of his energy and love to these numerous interests and skills across an immensely full life.  He will be missed and loved forever.

A Gathering of Family and Friends will be held at Peaceful Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Center, 2325 York Road, Timonium, on Saturday, November 4, 2023 from 1:00PM-2:00PM and a Memorial Service will be held from 2:00PM-3:00PM.  Burial at a later date will take place in the Merritt family plot at the Shrewsbury Parish Cemetery outside Chestertown, Maryland.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the International Liver Transplant Society members' education fund https://ilts.org/education-fund/ to benefit the continued clinical improvement of liver transplantation.