David Milnor Essom, MD, 85, died peacefully in his sleep August 31, 2017, in Chapel Hill, NC. He was born in Penn Yan, NY to Ruth Eberly Essom on April 13, 1932, his father, Milnor, having died the month before.

He was raised in Marathon, NY and was a member of the Marathon High School Athletic Hall of Fame’s inaugural class. After receiving his undergraduate degree and MD from Syracuse University, he married Eva Joyce “Chris” Chrisman on August 19, 1956.

He had five children while working as a general practitioner in Providence, RI; Omaha, NE- for the United States Air Force at Offutt AFB, receiving an honorable discharge at the rank of Captain; and in Cortland, NY. In the 1970’ he returned to Syracuse as a psychiatry resident and practiced there for several years.

He won local tennis tournaments, loved chess and Civil War history, and was an active member of the First United Methodist Church and barbershop singing groups. After a stint as a Medical Director at Eastern Virginia State Hospital in Williamsburg, and an attempt at retirement that didn’t stick, he moved to LaGrange, GA and continued to practice psychiatry. Several years later he fully retired and moved to Cary, NC.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Chris; daughter Kathy (Klod) Kokini of LaFayette, IN; daughter Carol Essom, MD, of Charleston, SC; son John Essom of Delray Beach, FL; daughter Kimberly Haelen of Durham, NC; daughter Roberta (Greg) Parrott of Durham, NC; sister Janet (Vito) Angerson of Liverpool, NY; aunt Alta Boyer-Blohm of Lodi, NY; cousin Robert (Linda) Eberly, MD, of Cortland, NY; and his 13 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

A service will be held at the graveside in Ellisburg Cemetery in Ellisburg, NY at 1pm on Sept. 30, 2017. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be sent to the Upstate Medical Center Alumni Foundation, In Memory of Dr. David M. Essom, Setnor Academic Building #1510, 750 Adams St., Syracuse, NY 13210.