HUTTER, Adolph M. “Dolph,” Jr, MD, of Needham Massachusetts, passed away on December 5, 2023, at the age of 86 due to natural causes. He lived an extraordinary life as a loving husband and father of five, and as a world-renowned clinical cardiologist.
Dolph was born February 22, 1937, in Fond du Lac Wisconsin, the son of Adolph M. Hutter, MD, and Janet Kay Hutter. He attended high school at St. Mary’s Springs Academy, college at Georgetown University (1959), and medical school at the University of Wisconsin (1963). He completed his medical residency at the University of Rochester – Strong Memorial Hospital and then he served at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Dolph came to Boston and the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1968 as a cardiology fellow, was hired on staff two years later and never left. Over his 55-year tenure at the MGH he became a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and was elected by his peers across the country as President of the American College of Cardiology. He had a passion for sports cardiology and was the founding director of the MGH Cardiovascular Performance Program. He served as a medical doctor and cardiologist for the New England Patriots and Boston Bruins for over forty years.
Dolph has been described by his colleagues as a “larger-than-life titan of cardiology,” and an “MGH stalwart through and through like one of granite rocks of the Bullfinch building.” He had a passion for teaching medical residents, cardiology fellows and cardiologists across the country and around the world. Thousands have been educated by his informative and entertaining “Update in Cardiology Conference” which has been a perennial favorite since he started it in the 1970s.
Dolph is survived by his beloved and devoted wife of 63 years, Sylvia Murray Hutter. They shared a magical life, full of love, family, friends, and travel. He leaves behind five children, all of whom are doctors having experienced the passion and zeal that their father had for his profession: Jae Hutter Geller and husband Alan Geller of Redmond, WA, Joseph Dolph Hutter and wife Julia Hutter of Middleburg, VA, Elizabeth Kay Hutter and husband Christopher Patterson of Los Altos Hills, CA, Matthew Murray Hutter and wife Amy deLone Hutter of Weston, MA, and Jonathan J. Hutter and wife Kristin Manning of Seattle WA. His 13 grandchildren will greatly miss him: Daniel, Ben, and Adam Geller; Sophie and Bella Hutter, Grace, Sarah, and Sylvie Hutter Patterson; Max, Will, and Anna Kay Hutter; and Anna Rose and Henry Hutter. He is survived by his sister, Elizabeth “Betty” (Hutter) Ryan Douglas.
A private funeral mass for family will be held at St. Joseph Parish in Needham, followed by burial at Glenwood Cemetery in South Natick. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the charity of your choice in his honor.