William Joseph (“Bill”) Bean, MD

William Joseph (“Bill”) Bean, MD, aged 97, died peacefully in his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, amidst four generations of family, following a gradual decline in health over several months. Dr. Bean was born on October 26, 1925 to John Russell and Marjorie Kaden Bean in Newcomerstown, Ohio. Dr. Bean was predeceased by his wife of 73 years, Marjorie Hanson Bean, his sister Natalie MacFarland, and his first son Bill. He is survived by his sister, Marilyn Haver, by six of his seven children (Jim, Thom, Carol, Phyllis, Barbara, and Marilyn), and by 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He lost his oldest son, Bill, in a tragic automobile accident in 1965. He attended Newcomerstown High School, graduating in 1943, and matriculated for over a year at Parks Air College before enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps in April 1944. After a year of aviation combat training in the U.S., he was deployed as a Boeing B-29 gunner and aircraft computer repair sergeant to Saipan in the Pacific theater in early August 1945, just as the conflict with Japan was drawing to an end. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1946 during the postwar demobilization.

Bill Bean married his high school sweetheart Marjorie Louise Hanson on June 12, 1945, in a ceremony in Miami Florida at the home of his maternal grandparents, Jacob Maurice (“Jack”) and Mae Cohen Kaden, 2 months before completing his combat training and deployment to the Pacific theater of war. He returned to Newcomerstown, Ohio in May 1946, where he lived with Marjorie and worked for 7 years in retail sales at the Baltimore Clothing Store owned by his father, J. Russell Bean. In 1953, in quest of a more challenging career, he moved with his wife, Marjorie, and 4 children to South Miami, Florida where he soon enrolled in college at the University of Miami and received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in less than 3 years while working nights and weekends to support his family. In 1956 the family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he completed medical training at the Tulane University School of Medicine in 1960, while Marjorie Bean completed her undergraduate education and received a Masters’ degree in mathematics. After a one-year rotating internship at Mobile General Hospital in Alabama, Dr. Bean returned to the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans for study and training in radiology at Charity Hospital. He completed his radiology residency training in 1964.

Dr. Bean practiced as a radiologist for 28 years. He served on the Radiology staff at Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans from 1964 until 1971, after which he took charge of the Department of Radiology at the recently established East Jefferson Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana. In 1979 he moved with his family back to Florida to live in Palm Beach Gardens and serve as Chairman of the Department of Radiology at the newly opened Jupiter Medical Center. In 1992 he was elected to serve as the District Governor for the Rotary Club’s District #6930, comprised of the counties surrounding Jupiter, Florida, an obligation that coincided with his retirement from the Jupiter Medical Center practice. He found great satisfaction in his Rotary experience and chaired several committees while serving in several voluntary positions for the Rotary for the next 18 years. He continued periodic radiology practice by accepting occasional locum tenens assignments at various hospitals located around the country, where his children had settled. During his medical career he published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals and did front-line medical pioneering work by introducing several new radiological procedures into his region of practice, including extraction of kidney stones, retrieval of gall stones retained in the bile duct after surgery, treatment of kidney and liver cysts, bronchial brushing for diagnosis of lung cancer, and ultrasonic diagnostic techniques. He received the Tulane University Medical Alumni Association’s C.D. Taylor Award in 2019 in recognition of his exemplary service to his community.

Dr. Bean loved flying airplanes. After completing medical training, he owned fixed-wing Piper and Cessna aircraft and flew whenever possible for 40 years, with his wife Marjorie, also a licensed pilot, sharing flight responsibilities. At 80 years of age, he sold his final aircraft, a 6 seat Piper Cherokee Saratoga.

Dr. Bean was devoted to his family and ensured that each of his 6 surviving children had the best possible opportunity to enjoy and succeed in life. During his final 14 years he shared his home with his grandson Thomas Bean’s family, including 3 great-grandchildren growing up inside the home. He had a disciplined mind, a clear moral beacon, a commanding self-reliance, a confidence that he could accomplish any task or challenge he undertook, and a seriousness balanced by an irrepressible sense of humor. Dr. Bean was a member of the Faith Lutheran Church in North Palm Beach, where he and his wife Marjorie found peace of mind and fellowship.

A wake will be held in Jupiter at Aycock-Riverside Funeral Home on Friday, September 29, 2023 from 4-6 pm. A funeral service will be held at Faith Lutheran Church on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 11 am.

A second funeral service will be held for Dr. Bean at 11 am on Saturday, October 7, 2023 at the Addy Funeral Home, 406 W. State St. in Newcomerstown, Ohio. He will be buried alongside family members in the West Lawn Cemetery near Newcomerstown.