William A. Scovill, former professor of surgery at University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and head of General Surgery at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), died on December 25th, 2024 at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 84 years old.

Dr. Scovill was a 1962 graduate of the University of Michigan where he played trombone in the Michigan Marching Band and a 1966 graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Internship and a year of residency at the University of Maryland Hospital was followed by a two-year tour of active duty in the US Navy Medical Corp during the Vietnam era. He completed his general surgical residency at the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1974.

He spent most of his career in academic surgery at the UMMS where he pioneered laparoscopic procedures for general surgery, including laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and served as director of the surgical residency program. Prior to his tenure at the UMMS, he served on the faculty of the Albany Medical College for six years.

In 1997 he became head of General Surgery and vice-chairman of the department of surgery at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC). He retired in 2005. After retirement he spent time reading, playing piano, tennis and enjoying his family, many dogs and long-term friendships.

Dr. Scovill was a member of several national surgical societies including the American College of Surgeons serving as Governor, Society of University Surgeons, Association for Academic Surgery, as well as many other national surgical associations. He served as professor, mentor and friend to his surgical residents at the UMMS from 1980 – 1997. He will be remembered as an outstanding surgeon and for all his contributions to teaching, research and clinical surgery.

He married Linda Jerry Hammond of Baltimore in 1968. She died as a consequence of advanced multiple sclerosis in 1986. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, MaryBeth Peach Scovill and his daughter Dr. Nellie Susan Scovill Damrauer and her husband Niels of Boulder, CO, and his son, William Henry Scovill and his wife, Emilie of San Francisco, CA, and his sister Susan Fries of Irvine, CA, his grandchildren, Joseph Scovill, Jude Scovill, Leo Damrauer, Bruno Damrauer, and his Rottweiler, Brandy.

He will be remembered for his many contributions to the advancements in general surgery and as a kind and generous person who always put other people's needs before his own.

A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2025 at 2:00PM at Linwoods, 25 Crossroads Drive, Owings Mills, MD 21117.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that expressions of sympathy be made through charitable donations to "Johns Hopkins University" in support of the Johns Hopkins MS Center. Contributions can be mailed to the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine, 550 N. Broadway, Suite 731, Baltimore, MD 21205, with a note designating the gift for the Johns Hopkins MS Center. Memorial donations may also be made online at https://secure.jhu.edu/form/neuro ( https://secure.jhu.edu/form/neuro ) by selecting the "other" option and specifying "Johns Hopkins MS Center" in memory of William A. Scovill, M.D.