Woodhall “Sandy” Stopford ’65

Woodhall “Sandy” Stopford ’65, M.D., a professor emeritus in community medicine and family health at Duke University, passed away on March 23 of multiple myeloma. He is survived by wife Carolyn, children Charles and Amy, brothers Jeffrey and Jeremy, and three grandchildren. Sandy knew from an early age that he was destined to be a physician. He came to Dartmouth from Rye (New York) High School, majored in geology and chemistry, and was active in the Outing Club and the Glee Club, through which he met Carolyn. Sandy attended Harvard School of Medicine (class of ’69) and had a residency (internal medicine) at Duke. While at Duke, Sandy was a Robert Wood Johnson clinical scholar under the tutelage of Leonard Goldwater, founder of the division of occupational and environmental medicine. In 1973 Sandy became Goldwater’s first faculty member. He was also an active reserve physician in the U.S. Army and National Guard (major, Medical Corps, 1970-76) at the time. He earned an M.S. in public health from the University of North Carolina in 1980. He led Duke’s division of occupational and environmental medicine for 46 years and established its preventive occupational medicine residency program, which he led for almost two decades. He later taught as an adjunct professor of industrial and environmental toxicology at UNC. Even in his last days Sandy never lost the will to live, to love, and to treasure his family and dogs.