Donald H. Hofreuter ’54

Don, a consummate champion for dignified health care in the Upper Ohio Valley, died Nov. 21, 2021.

Don prepared at Linsly Military Institute, where he was battalion commander, cadet major, and valedictorian of his senior class. 

At Princeton he majored in chemistry, joined Cannon Club, and served on the Orange Key visiting teams committee and the Campus Fund Drive. He was manager of track for his first three years. In his senior year he was head waiter in the University Dining Halls. 

In 1958 while earning a medical degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, Don married his first wife, Virginia Dulany. After residencies and service in the Navy he returned to Wheeling, W.Va., to begin his medical practice. He was one of several physicians who introduced the “Health Right” concept to the area. 

Don and Virginia raised two children, Nancy and Elizabeth ’89. 

Don joined Wheeling Hospital in 1982 as director of medical affairs and retired in 2006 after serving 13 years as the hospital’s CEO. 

He married Jean Beck Friday in 1989. Don enjoyed tennis with Jean, golf, handball, racquetball, and jogging.

He is survived by daughters Nancy, Elizabeth, Carolyn, and Janet; and five grandchildren. He was preceded in death by Jean (she died Nov. 11, 2021), Virginia, his parents, his sister Ruth deBlasis, and his grandson, Nicolas Hofreuter Landini.