Hendrik Michel Ecker ’75

Rick died July 30, 2021, of cancer at age 69. 

Reared in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, he entered Princeton with the Class of 1974 after attending Milton Academy, where he played football and baseball. He majored in religion and then went on to medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He returned to Philadelphia, for his medical residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met his wife, Kathleen.

After their 1986 marriage, Rick and Kathleen traveled across Asia for two years, doing humanitarian work in Thailand and Burma. When they returned home, they started their private practice, Lower Cape Cardiology, in Chatham and Orleans, Mass. They had three children: Paul, Mariel, and John Henry. 

Rick continued his career as an emergency physician for 32 years at Cape Cod Hospital and was noted for his compassionate care. He shared his love of athletics and world travel with his children, and he participated in several humanitarian medical missions to Honduras and the Dominican Republic with his son John Henry.

His obituary said Rick “was a kind and gentle soul, and his memory will live on with all the people whose lives he touched.” In addition to his children, Rick’s survivors include his brother, Christian; and sister-in-law, Ann.