After a long illness, cardiologist John Frederick Hagaman, MD died at his home in Princeton on March 6, 2017, at the age of 69. The cause of death was due to complications from a degenerative brain disease.
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on December 15, 1947, he was the only child of Frederick Homer Hagaman and Virginia Gerding. He grew up in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania and graduated from the Episcopal Academy in Merion in 1966. From there he went on to earn a BS degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and an MD degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He met his future wife, Andrea T. Hyde, while an undergraduate and they were married in Newtown, Connecticut, on May 25, 1974.
Further training took John to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. Moving back east, he spent a year working as an Emergency Room physician at the Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, before moving south, where he completed a fellowship in noninvasive cardiology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
In 1980 John came to Princeton, New Jersey, where he joined the medical practice of William F. Haynes, MD. Their partnership marked the beginning of Cardiology Associates of Princeton which in later years grew to include additional partners. He loved the practice of medicine and over the ensuing 32 years, his practice grew and he gained a reputation for his skills as a diagnostician, attentive listener and compassionate healer with a deep seated interest in his patients, not just as cases, but as people with a wide range of interests and backgrounds. He also delighted in his professional relationships with medical colleagues and in teaching medical students rotating through the University Hospital of Princeton.
The hallmarks of John’s temperament were his boundless enthusiasm, energy and cheerfulness. He embraced not only medicine but many other interests as well. He loved music; playing the guitar and banjo and singing in a capella groups in school and college, in student produced musicals in medical school and, later in life, with the barbershop chorus, The Brothers in Harmony. As a sportsman, he was a competitive swimmer in high school, loved bike riding, downhill skiing and especially, golf. He was a long time member of the Springdale Golf Club. He also had a passion for photography, and for American and European history and tracing his genealogical roots back to Holland in the 1630s. He served for many years on the board of directors of the YMCA in Princeton and was the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 88 in the 1990s. And, throughout all his years in Princeton, he and his family were devoted members of Trinity Church.
John is survived by his wife of 42 years, Andrea T. Hyde, his sons Charles and William Hagaman and William’s wife, Ursula Bailey. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 on Saturday, March 18 at 1 pm, to be followed by a reception. Those wishing to make memorial contributions in John’s name are encouraged to donate to either Trinity Church, or to the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University Medical Center, ATTN: Matt Reals, 516 West 168th Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10032. The email contact is [email protected].
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on December 15, 1947, he was the only child of Frederick Homer Hagaman and Virginia Gerding. He grew up in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania and graduated from the Episcopal Academy in Merion in 1966. From there he went on to earn a BS degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and an MD degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He met his future wife, Andrea T. Hyde, while an undergraduate and they were married in Newtown, Connecticut, on May 25, 1974.
Further training took John to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. Moving back east, he spent a year working as an Emergency Room physician at the Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, before moving south, where he completed a fellowship in noninvasive cardiology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
In 1980 John came to Princeton, New Jersey, where he joined the medical practice of William F. Haynes, MD. Their partnership marked the beginning of Cardiology Associates of Princeton which in later years grew to include additional partners. He loved the practice of medicine and over the ensuing 32 years, his practice grew and he gained a reputation for his skills as a diagnostician, attentive listener and compassionate healer with a deep seated interest in his patients, not just as cases, but as people with a wide range of interests and backgrounds. He also delighted in his professional relationships with medical colleagues and in teaching medical students rotating through the University Hospital of Princeton.
The hallmarks of John’s temperament were his boundless enthusiasm, energy and cheerfulness. He embraced not only medicine but many other interests as well. He loved music; playing the guitar and banjo and singing in a capella groups in school and college, in student produced musicals in medical school and, later in life, with the barbershop chorus, The Brothers in Harmony. As a sportsman, he was a competitive swimmer in high school, loved bike riding, downhill skiing and especially, golf. He was a long time member of the Springdale Golf Club. He also had a passion for photography, and for American and European history and tracing his genealogical roots back to Holland in the 1630s. He served for many years on the board of directors of the YMCA in Princeton and was the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 88 in the 1990s. And, throughout all his years in Princeton, he and his family were devoted members of Trinity Church.
John is survived by his wife of 42 years, Andrea T. Hyde, his sons Charles and William Hagaman and William’s wife, Ursula Bailey. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 on Saturday, March 18 at 1 pm, to be followed by a reception. Those wishing to make memorial contributions in John’s name are encouraged to donate to either Trinity Church, or to the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University Medical Center, ATTN: Matt Reals, 516 West 168th Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10032. The email contact is [email protected].
Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.