Daniel T. Harrington, MD

Daniel T. Harrington, MD, 80, of Fall River, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on September 13, 2019.  He is survived by his wife, Louise (Higgins) Harrington of 8 years.  He leaves behind his two children, Daniel C. Harrington and his wife, Nancy Harrington of Westport, MA and their two children, Benjamin and William, and his daughter, Anne E. Harrington, of Stratham, NH.  In addition, he leaves his brother, the Honorable Edward F. Harrington of Needham, MA and Portsmouth, RI.  He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Elizabeth (Tolan) Harrington and brother, Dr. John T. Harrington, Dean Emeritus of Tufts University School of Medicine. 
Dr. Harrington’s early education started at the Sacred Heart Grammar School and continued at Durfee High School, graduating in the class of 1956. At Durfee, he was elected his class president, he was the co-captain of the Durfee football team, and a member of the basketball team that won the New England Tournament.  He also graduated in the top ten of his class and was voted the Most Likely to Succeed and best all-around student.  After Durfee, he attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, following in the footsteps of his father and two brothers.  He graduated cum laude in the AB Pre-Med program and went on to attend Tufts School of Medicine, graduating in 1964 with his MD degree.  He had a fondness for his alma maters, continuing to support Durfee High School and Holy Cross, serving on the board of the Fall River High School Alumni Scholarship Committee and being a member of the President’s Council for more than 40 years, respectively. 
Following medical school, he interned at the National Naval Medical Center (better known as the Bethesda Naval Hospital and the Hospital of the Presidents). From there, he went to sea, serving with the second fleet (Atlantic) and the sixth fleet (Mediterranean).  He ended his active Naval duty of 6 ½ years as LT, MC, USN, as the Industrial Medical officer at the Newport Naval Station in Newport, RI. 
After his Naval service, he began his solo practice of medicine in Fall River, MA in 1971.  During his 34 years of medicine in Fall River, he served two terms of Chief of Staff at Saint Anne’s Hospital and also served on the Board of Trustees of “Caritas Christie” the Boston archdiocese of a coalition of Catholic Hospitals in Massachusetts.  He performed his civic duties as Chairman of the Board of Health for some 8 years; he was also President of the Fall River Line Pier and chair of the Fall River Port Authority.  
Dan was an avid sailor beginning his love of the sport at the Tiverton Yacht Club at the age of 12, sailing the Candy class sloop #3 “Tootsie Roll.”  He then moved on to racing an “S” class Herreshoff, 28 foot sloop, the queen of the Narraganset Bay Racing Assn.  He then turned to cruising aboard his 33 ft. Pearson and finally his 35 foot Nonsuch “Sea Hero.”  He was a member of the New Bedford Yacht Club for 40 years, sailing on multiple annual cruises as far as Bar Harbor Maine and along the coast of Long Island as well as Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. While not sailing, he could be found reading various books on history, often many simultaneously, following the stock market, and cheering for the Patriots and Red Sox.  He spent the last decade of his life travelling widely with his wife Louise to many countries in Europe, the Canadian Rockies, Egypt, and multiple National Parks in the U.S. 
A visitation will be held Thursday from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Auclair Funeral Home, 690 So.Main St., Fall River. His Funeral Mass will be held Friday at 10:00 A.M. at Holy Name Church, Hanover St. Fall River. (Please meet directly at church) Burial, St. Patrick’s Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, 501 St Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105.  Online guest book at AuclairFuneralHome.com.

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