Dr. John Crossan O’Donovan, a retired pediatrician who practiced in Dundalk, died of heart disease Sunday at his Raleigh, North Carolina, home. He was 85 and formerly lived in Dundalk.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Ruscombe Lane, he was the son of Dr. Charles O’Donovan Jr., a physician, and his wife, Eleanora Coper O’Donovan. Known as “Cross,” he was a Gilman School, Yale University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine graduate.
While an intern at Duke University Hospital, he met his future wife, Brenda Reed, who was then a student nurse.
Dr. O’Donovan served as a medical officer aboard a Navy troop carrier during the Vietnam War.
“He never saw combat but emerged as the undisputed family cribbage champion, a title he held for life,” said his daughter, Katie Hanusik.
Following his naval service, Dr. O’Donovan completed his pediatric residency at Montreal Children’s Hospital.
“We were adventurers,” said his wife. “We went to Nairobi in Kenya for a while in the 1960s. My husband basically took another residency and taught medical students. He was on a ward treating children with measles. He witnessed many children’s deaths. It was sad to see these beds lined up. Measles killed a lot of people.”
In 1971 he established a medical practice in Dundalk on Kinship Road. He later had offices on Dundalk Avenue and Merritt Boulevard known as Greater Dundalk Pediatrics.
“We started the practice together,” his wife said. “At first we prayed the phone would ring. Word got around there was a new pediatrician in town. We quickly grew.”
Dr. O’Donovan practiced in Dundalk for more than 40 years. By the time the couple retired, their practice had grown to 19 employees and served thousands of patients.
Dr. O’Donovan began easing into retirement in 2007 and scaled back to one workday per week. He retired in 2013.
He took up golfing at the Sparrows Point Country Club. His wife joined him.
“We were subpar golfers but we tried hard,” she said.
Dr. O’Donovan also volunteered as a teacher’s aide at Battle Grove Elementary and sang with the Chorus of the Chesapeake. He also helped plant trees to replace aging sycamores as part of the Greening of Dundalk.
He was also an ardent recycler, his wife said.
“For a while he rode a bike to the office and it had a little basket on it. By the end of the day it was full of cans,” she said.
In 2019 Dr. O’Donovan and his wife relocated to Raleigh to be closer to their children.
There, he joined the Cypress Sharpshooters pool team, continued singing in a barbershop quartet and participated in the Great Decisions program.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Brenda Reed; a daughter, Katie Hanusik, of McLean, Virginia; two sons, Ross O’Donovan, of North Raleigh, North Carolina and Reed O’Donovan, of Clayton, North Carolina; a sister, Nora Yaggy, of Cockeysville; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is being planned.
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