Beloved husband, father, and grandfather, William O. Dobbins III M.D., died Sunday, May 8, 2011, at the age of 78, in Charleston, SC. He was born in Phoenix, AZ, on October 15, 1932, and was raised in Montgomery, AL. Dr. Dobbins was graduated from Davidson College and received his medical degree from The University of Alabama Medical School in Birmingham, AL. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, Phi Beta Pi Medical Fraternity, Alpha Omega Alpha, honorary medical society, and Omicron Delta Kappa, honorary leadership fraternity.
He served his internship in the Second Cornell Medical Division of Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He served active duty as a captain in the army as a battalion surgeon in the 48th Infantry Division in Gelnhausen, Germany. He completed his residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Washington. His career in academic medicine included full professorships at Duke University, George Washington University, and the University of Michigan where he retired as professor emeritus.
He also served as a consultant to Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Dobbins is world renown for his research in Whipple’s Disease. He is the author of many medical publications, including three medical textbooks. Dr. Dobbins was a passionate naturalist, an avid bird watcher, and president of the Washtenaw, MI Audubon Society. He had a voracious love for reading, but his true devotion was to his family. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Ellen Scott-Smith Dobbins; his daughters, Laura Dobbins-Beeks, husband, Keith Beeks, of Charleston, SC, and Sharon Dobbins Egan, husband, Robert Egan, of Roswell, GA; his grandchildren, Ashley, Alyssa and Garrett Egan and Kimbell Dobbins; and his three brothers, Porter, Thomas and John Dobbins.