Dr. Donald W. Mintzer, a retired Hamilton family physician, died Feb. 1 of Alzheimer's disease complications at the Presbyterian Home of Maryland. He was 86.
Born in Somers Point, N.J., and raised in nearby Ocean City, he was a 1938 graduate of Ocean City High School and worked as a lifeguard.
Family members said he decided to pursue a medical career after he nearly died of complications from an appendectomy at age 9.
He moved to Maryland in 1939 and earned a pre-med Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Maryland in College Park. He received a medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1944. While an intern at University Hospital, he met his future wife, nurse Gladys Abshire, while they were working in the burn unit.
Soon after their marriage in 1945, he joined the Army and was sent to Korea, where he served in a M.A.S.H. unit.
After his active military service - he remained in the Reserves as a captain until 1963 - he worked at St. Agnes Hospital and established a private practice on Evergreen Avenue.
He also worked at the old Church Home and Hospital, where he was chief of staff.
"He was an old-style family doctor who made house calls day and night, and treating everyone from infants to the aged," said his son David L. Mintzer of Eldersburg, "He turned no one away due to lack of funds. My father accepted homegrown tomatoes and zucchini, baskets of oysters and rockfish as payment. He loved medicine and was a brilliant, intuitive diagnostician. He specialized in family practice long before it was ever recognized as a specialty."
Dr. Mintzer provided free physicals for Boy Scouts at Broadcreek and athletes in the Hamilton Optimist Rec program. He also volunteered at public clinics in Baltimore. He was on the staffs of Good Samaritan Hospital and Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
He served as a mentor for University of Maryland medical students in family practice.
Family members said Dr. Mintzer retired in 1996 rather than accept a federal requirement to use a computer in his practice.
Dr. Mintzer was a member of Hamilton Presbyterian Church. He enjoyed music, poetry, sailing and sports, and he fished at Deep Creek Lake.
Services were held Monday.
In addition to his wife of 63 years and son, survivors include another son, Jeffrey W. Mintzer of Arlington, Va.; three daughters, Judith M. Quick of Los Angeles, Jacqueline L. Thomas of Ellicott City and Deborah L. Simon of Bel Air; a brother, Lynwood F. Mintzer of Boca Raton, Fla.; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.