Obituary of Owen Perrry Lamerson

Dr. Owen Lamerson of Huntington, 87, dies February 27, 2011 by CARL MACGOWAN / carl.macgowan@newsday.com Dr. Owen Lamerson worked long hours at Huntington Hospital and in his private practice, often not returning to his Huntington home until late at night. But Lamerson, who died Friday, found time when he was home to take his six children sailing and coach their baseball and softball teams, said his daughter Meaghan Coats, of Bel Air, Md. The World War II veteran died of Parkinson's disease at Long Island Veterans Home in Stony Brook. He was 87. Lamerson was a partner at the Huntington Medical Group and, in the late 1970s, president of the staff at Huntington Hospital. He was chief of medicine from 1986 to 1990. For years, he was a physician for St. Patrick's Church Rectory and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, both in Huntington. Lamerson was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 17, 1923, and left Fordham University to enlist in the Army during World War II. He rose to second lieutenant in the 5th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Lamerson completed his degree at Fordham in 1948 and graduated from SUNY Downstate Medical School in 1952. Lamerson met nurse Patricia Mullin at Huntington Hospital. They discovered they had grown up two blocks apart in Flatbush, said Patricia Lamerson, known as Patsy. They married on June 9, 1962, at St. Hugh of Lincoln Church in Huntington Station. Baseball was a constant in the life of Lamerson, a Mets fan. He played on an Army squad during the occupation of Japan, Coats said. And he played on a senior citizens team called the Codgers after retiring and moving with his wife to Vero Beach, Fla.Lamerson coached his son Matthew's Babe Ruth team and his children's teams at St. Patrick's Church.When he retired at age 70 and moved with his wife to Vero Beach, Fla., he played outfield for a senior citizens team called the Codgers. "He could still run," Patsy Lamerson said. Lamerson also is survived by three sons, Peter of Stone Ridge, Patrick of Provincetown, Mass., and Matthew of Greenlawn; another daughter, Susan Shea of Greenlawn, and 13 grandchildren. Visiting hours are 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at M.A. Connell Funeral Home in Huntington Station. A funeral Mass is planned later this week at St. Patrick's Church.