On February 1, 2024, Dr. Thomas Barbee Ducker passed away peacefully in his sleep at Lanier Village Estates in Gainesville, Ga.

Dr. Ducker was born in Huntington, W. Va.,  on December 20, 1937, the son of a state Supreme Court Judge, H. Lakin Ducker and Frances Talbot Ducker. Tom was a graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (1959) and a Doctorate of Medicine in 1963. He also completed courses of study in 1957 at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, in addition to externships at Cornell Med (1961) and the Mayo Clinic (1963).

Upon completion of Medical School in 1963, Dr. Ducker entered the University of Michigan as a surgical intern and then in 1965, as a neurosurgical resident.

During the Vietnam War he was called to active duty in the US Army and served 2 years (1966-1968) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as a Neurosurgery Fellow. While there he did extensive research of Peripheral Nerve and Spinal Cord Injury.

In 1970, Tom, his wife, Barbara and their children moved to Charleston, SC, where he became Assistant Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. In 1975 the family moved to Baltimore, MD for Dr. Ducker to assume the Chair of Neurosurgery at the University of Maryland. During his eight-year tenure, he established the University of Maryland Neurotrauma Program, trained 14 residents, and continued his research on stroke and neurotrauma.

In 1983 Dr. Ducker moved his family to Annapolis, Md., where he began to devote more time to clinical practice. Tom, Barbara and their three children were avid sailors and loved the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. They spent many years sailing their sailboat named Impetuous. In addition to Dr. Ducker’s professorship at the University of Maryland, he also became a professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical School and, eventually, president of the medical staff at the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. As an internationally known surgeon, he was one of only a few doctors to have been appointed full professorship at two prestigious medical schools, while maintaining a full schedule in patient care in private practice.

Tom and Barbara also owned a home in Steamboat Springs, Col., where they spent much time skiing, hiking and enjoying the spectacular scenery. Being originally from the mountains of West Virginia, he still remained a mountain man at heart. Family and friends would often visit and join Tom on the slopes where he always had the best ski hat.

Upon retirement in 2010, Dr. Ducker had published over 300 journal articles and book chapters. He was the neurosurgery editor for the Journal of Spinal Disorders, president of the Cervical Spine Research Society, a guest professor on six continents, and one of the authors of the textbook, Adult Spine. Over the course of his professional life, he performed over 10,000 surgeries and gave numerous lectures at various universities and symposiums.

A move to Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., provided some time for tennis, golf and some medical consultation work for eight years. In 2018 the Duckers moved to Lanier Village Estates, a continuing care community in Gainesville, Ga.

Dr. Thomas Barbee Ducker is survived by his devoted wife of 58 years Barbara Bold Ducker, his sons Lakin Frederick Ducker (Claudia), Scott Webb Ducker (Jami) and daughter Susanne Barbee Ducker (Jonathan Goldstein) as well as four grandchildren, Skylar, Madelyn, Francesca Ducker and Eli Goldstein.