Robert N. Rittenhouse

November 1, 1926 – February 8, 2025 

Robert Nelson Rittenhouse of Hudson, MA, passed away at his home on Saturday evening, February 8, 2025, surrounded by his loving family. Robert Rittenhouse was born as the youngest of 5 children in Flint, Michigan. His parents were the late Sidney and Lilly (Nelson) Rittenhouse. He grew up mostly in upstate New York where his father was a minister, and mother a piano teacher. 

He went to college at Washington Missionary College (now Washington Adventist University) and then during the war years attended the College of Medical Evangelists in California for medical school (now Loma Linda University School of Medicine) from which he graduated at the age of 21 in 1949. He took a rotating internship in Los Angeles, and another year of residency in general practice in Madison, Tennessee. When war was declared in Korea he joined the Navy where he served as a physician, first at the Chelsea Naval Hospital in Neurosurgery and then as a physician on board the USS Tarawa, an aircraft carrier, until 1952 when he was honorably discharged. He then took another year of residency in general surgery in Los Angeles before opening a private General Medicine practice in the Los Angeles area. While there he met a lovely young nursing student from Minnesota, Marguerite Olson, and they married in 1954. 

He and his family moved to Hudson, Massachusetts in 1957 where he first practiced on Church Street in Hudson. Later he helped to build Lakeview Medical Center across from the Fort Meadow Reservoir in Marlborough, where through the years he practiced medicine with Dr. Roy Gravesen, his daughter, Dr. Connie Rittenhouse Drexler, and others. He became certified in Family Practice when the Board first came out and worked during his career caring for the medical needs of children and adults in the community, assisted in surgery, delivered hundreds of babies at both Marlborough Hospital and Framingham Union Hospital (now Metrowest), did medical orthopedics, covered the emergency room, attended at Marlborough Hospital on the Medical/Surgical wards, and in the Intensive Care Unit. He was also appointed as medical examiner, serving under Governors Sargent and Volpe in Massachusetts. He loved practicing medicine and being involved in the hospital community where he was chief of staff for some time at Marlborough Hospital. He greatly enjoyed interacting with the employees and other physicians at both his office and the hospital. He was also active at the Hudson Seventh-day Adventist church and was a Library Trustee at the Hudson Public Library. 

He retired at the age of 81 after practicing medicine in the Marlborough/Hudson area for over 50 years. He especially loved flying, got his instrument rating, and flew his family all over the United States and up to Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, and even as far as Churchill, Manitoba to see the polar bears. He and his wife loved to travel and visited many countries of the world. He also enjoyed spending time in Maine where they bought a small log cabin. He could often be found reading history books and biographies of American heroes. As his grandfather had served in the Civil War and his brother in World War II he had a special interest in those eras. He was fortunate to remain relatively well throughout most of his senior years. One of his last adventures was to travel to Dubai with his son, Dr. Jerry Rittenhouse, and grandson, David, to Dubai. Not long before his death he was able to visit the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA where he was proud to show his family the same kind of planes and artifacts from the Korean War that were on the aircraft carrier where he had served as a physician during the war. He was alert until the end of his life, until he passed away after a short illness. He will be greatly missed. 

Besides his wife, Marguerite (Peggy) Rittenhouse, he is survived by children, Connie Rittenhouse Drexler, MD, (David Drexler, MD) of Sterling, MA, Jerry Rittenhouse, MD (Lauren Aastrup Rittenhouse), of Lancaster, NH, grandchildren Robert Drexler, Katharine Drexler Conley, Julia Rittenhouse Escarza, MD, David Rittenhouse, DDS, and two darling great-grandsons, Hudson and Theodore Escarza. A Musical and Scriptural Tribute as a Memorial Service is planned for Saturday, March 8, 2025, at 3:30 PM at the College Seventh-day Adventist Church, 337 Main St., South Lancaster, MA 01561. All are invited.