Harold Bickford Lang ’36 died on January 6, 2009, in Barrington, Rhode Island, where he had practiced pediatric medicine in a home-based office for 42 years.
He was born in Washington, D.C., on February 3, 1915, and prepared for college at Aspinwall (Penn.) High School. He enrolled at Harvard College, then transferred to Bowdoin in his sophomore year. At Bowdoin, he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He returned to Harvard to earn his medical degree in 1940, and then served in England and France as an Army Air Corps surgeon in World War II, attaining the rank of captain. He interned at Pittsburgh Medical Center, served his pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, and another residency and teaching fellowship at Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. He established a private pediatric practice in Erie, Penn., in 1947, and began a two-year residency in psychiatry in 1949 at Butler Hospital. In 1952, he opened a private pediatric practice at his home in Barrington, R.I., where he worked until his retirement in 1994. He also served as a physician for the Barrington Public Schools from 1961 through 1988. He served as a diplomat of the American Board of Pediatrics; a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics; and member of the American Medical Society, the Rhode Island Pediatric Society and the New England Pediatric Society. He was a member of the Barrington Yacht Club and the Rhode Island Country Club. He is survived by a sonm Stephen B. Lang ’70; a daughter, Barbara L. Crowell; a brother, John Stanley Lang: five grandchildren: and two great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife of 63 years, Nancy (Blair) Lang, in 2004.