Amid searches for new Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine administrators, members of the college took time Saturday to mourn the death of a former interim dean.
About 150 family and friends attended the Walter Hall memorial for Daniel Marazon, who served as OU-HCOM’s interim dean for 11 months in 2001.
Marazon, who suffered from dementia, went by many titles other than “interim dean” during his lifetime, including physician, veteran, fisherman, husband, father and grandfather.
He began his career at OU in 1977 as an associate professor of family medicine.
The memorial consisted of several family members’ and close friends’ sharing their experiences with Marazon as well as a slideshow of pictures from his life.
“Dan was a special person,” said Craig McCarthy, an assistant professor of psychology at OU. “I learned how to be a better person and how to better deal with people because of Dan. He never told me what to do, but showed me what to do through his actions.”
Marazon served on OU-HCOM’s executive committee from 1983 to 1994, when he became director of the Family Practice Residency Program at Doctors Hospital in Columbus. In addition, Marazon traveled with OU-HCOM students and faculty to Kenya each winter for several years as part of the college’s SHARE Kenya program. Marazon also served as the team physician for OU’s club hockey team and was inducted into the Ohio University Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.
“The college lost a passionate physician and educator who was loved by his patients and admired by his co-workers and students,” said Jack Brose, dean of OU-HCOM, in a news release. "He played a major role in bringing our college to where it is today."
In 2002, Marazon was named the Family Physician of the Year by the Ohio State Society of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, and he received the OU-HCOM Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
“Dan was the consummate teacher,” said Tracy Marx, a family physician and friend of Marazon. “I have no doubt that he touched and changed every single life that he came in contact with.”
tt182810@ohiou.edu
