William Capers Patrick

William C. Patrick III Obituary

Mr. William C. Patrick, III, 84 of Etzler Road, Frederick, MD died October 1, 2010.

Born July 24, 1926 in Ridgeland, S.C., he was the only child of the late William C. Patrick, Jr. and Florine Fripp Patrick of Hampton County, S.C.

He was the husband of Virginia H. Patrick whom he married in July 1972. He is survived by his wife, two sons, by previous marriage, William T. Patrick and Mark E. Patrick of Rockville, MD., two step-children, Theresa Bedoya App and husband Timothy of Baltimore, MD., and Martin R. Lynch and wife Tamara of Nashville, TN.

Mr. Patrick served in the Army during World War II. He was a graduate of the University of South Carolina (1948) and the University of Tennessee (1949) with a Masters Degree in microbiology and biochemistry.

Mr. Patrick started his professional career at the Research Division of Commercial Solvents, Terre Haute, Indiana. He joined the Biological Warfare Laboratories, Ft. Detrick, Md. in 1951. He became Chief, Product Development Division and held this position until the Biological Laboratories were disestablished in 1972. At that time, he joined the management staff as Plans and Program Officer of the U.S Army Medical Research of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Md. He retired from this Federal Service position in 1986.

During his 35 years at Ft. Detrick, Patrick received many awards and honors. He received Sustained Superior Performance awards in 1954, 1958, 1962, 1968, 1977, and 1980. He received a Special Service Award in 1982, the Order of the Military Medical Merit in 1986, and the Barnett L. Cohen award.

On his retirement from Federal Service, he formed his own consulting service, Biothreats Assessment. He has performed contractual services for the Defense Intelligence Agency, CIA, FBI, United States Secret Service, and the United States Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, among others. He was a Team Leader of a United Nations UNSCOM inspection visit to Iraq. He has appeared on all of the major television networks as well as the Canadian Broadcasting Network, the BBC, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Because of his stellar contributions to our country's security, Mr. Patrick was awarded a CIA Meritorious Citation and the Order of Military Medical Merit.

In addition to the numerous guest-lecturing appearances at the National War College, Army War College, Air War College, MIT, CDC and the National Academy of Science, Mr. Patrick held five U.S. patents pertaining to biological processes and equipment, and has authored 16 articles in scientific literature as well as 98 major, in-house Department of Army publications.

The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m., on Monday, October 4, at the Keeney and Basford P.A. Funeral Home, 106 East Church Street, Frederick. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, October 5, in the Etchison Memorial Chapel of the funeral Home. Mrs. Curtis Baughman will officiate. Interment will be in Resthaven Memorial Gardens, Frederick.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Kline Hospice House, 7000 Kimmel Road, Mt. Airy, Md, 21771-8601. Online condolences may be shared at www.keeneybasford.com.