MONTPELIER - Gary M. Zaret, a physician in emergency medicine at Central Vermont Hospital, passed away unexpectedly on July 21, 2000, in Montpelier. Dr. Zaret, a specialist in Family Practice and Emergency Medicine, had worked at CVH since moving to Vermont with his family in 1994. Those that knew him regarded him as an extremely dedicated and hardworking individual whose passion for medical excellence and interest in serving those in need led him to study and practice medicine around the world.
Born on August 31, 1951, he grew up in Orange County, California, graduating from Pomona College in 1973. His travels after college brought him to Vermont where he worked for the Department of Health and volunteered at a free clinic in Burlington. Through this work, Gary decided to pursue a career in medicine and he entered the University of Vermont School of Medicine, graduating with his medical degree in 1980. Gary went on to complete a residency in family practice at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. His decision to pursue a family practice residency was very important to him. He wanted to work with the elderly, deliver babies and help everyone in between.
After residency, Gary worked with the Public Health Service in Bethel, Alaska working with the Yupik Eskimo people in a 40 bed hospital near the Bering Sea Coast. It was during this time that he met and married Mary Thulman, a nurse who shared his passion for helping those in need, his sense of adventure and love of travel. For several years, Gary and Mary lived and worked in Bethel where they made many close friends and were rewarded with the privilege of working with the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages.
From 1988 - 1991, Gary and Mary lived in Taos, New Mexico, where their children Eva and David Zaret were born. Gary was the director of a rural health center in Questa New Mexico.
In 1988, Gary and Mary attended the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in England and hoped to continue their love of travel with their medical careers. They traveled throughout Kenya and dreamed of someday returning to work in Africa which Gary was finally able to do in March of this year. He traveled to Sudan to work for the Medical Relief Agency "Doctor's Without Borders" with his friend Jill Seaman in a remote Kala Azar treatment center. His work was fascinating and rewarding and upon his return to the United States, he helped raise needed start-up dollars for a special independent project to treat patients with tuberculosis in a very remote area of Sudan. Jill Seaman is now running the program at this time.
Gary was a wonderful father to his two children Eva and David, whom he loved dearly. We miss him very much. He is survived by his wife, Mary Thulman, his children Eva and David Zaret of Montpelier and his sister Jan Zaret Davis, of Port Townsend, Washington.
All members of the community are welcome to celebrate the life of the exceptional man at a memorial service to be held at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier on Tuesday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family wishes to continue Dr. Zaret's efforts to help the Tuberculosis treatment program in Sudan and request that donations be made to: IMRF/Capicitar/Sudan, 23 East Beach St., #206, Watsonville, CA, 95076.
From The Times Argus, Montpelier Vermont 24 July 2000
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Updated: 25 November 2000