Hugh Henry Trout III

On February 19, 2025, Hugh Henry Trout, III, 83, a devoted father, respected physician, and master storyteller, passed away from complications of dementia, which for almost two years had sapped an active and interested mind of its normal high-powered vitality.

Born November 15, 1941, in Roanoke, Virginia, Hugh was the oldest of three children of Dr. Hugh Henry Trout, Jr. and Elizabeth Broun Trout. He graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, and he received his undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University. His grandfather, his father, and his uncle had all become doctors, and he too chose to help others through medicine. He received his medical degree from Duke University and then did his surgical training at UCLA Medical Center.

Having deferred his military obligation to complete his medical training, he came to Washington, DC, in 1974 to work at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research for two years. Washington became his home. After the Army, he furthered his medical training with a fellowship in vascular surgery, a specialty that provided the physical and mental demands that he enjoyed. He served as a professor of surgery at George Washington University and maintained a clinical practice, performing surgery at various hospitals in DC and Maryland. A proud Fellow of the Southern Surgical Association and the American Surgical Association, he was also a member of the Society of Vascular Surgery, and a member and past president of the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery. He was regarded as one of the preeminent vascular surgeons in the Washington area, and beyond. He even looked the part: it was his face that appeared on the cover of the April 1999 Washingtonian magazine featuring “Top Doctors.” Besides his clinical work, for many years he devoted substantial effort and resources to the development of an innovative treatment for abdominal aneurysms.

Hugh loved helping others and was tenacious with his generosity. Beyond just his own medical practice, if a family member, friend, or acquaintance had a challenging medical problem, through the vast network he had developed, he would identify the very best experts in the field for treating the problem and would do all he could to ensure the patient received the best care possible.

Hugh was a voracious reader, and he loved meeting new people and nurturing his friendships. He was an interested and interesting conversationalist. So he was constantly learning. The more he learned, the more fun stories he learned to tell. And retell!

Hugh loved living in Washington, where he was fascinated by the intellectual vitality and political vibe. It was in Washington that he met journalist Josephine Franklin, then a producer for the MacNeil/Lehrer Report. They were married in 1979. The union did not last, but it gave birth to two wonderful children, Ashley and Hugh, whom he raised as a single parent. For all of his noteworthy personal and professional accomplishments, it was his children who were the source of his greatest happiness and pride. 

Hugh is survived by his children, Ashley Rudin Trout (Brian Rudin), Hugh Henry Trout, IV (Kelly); his siblings, Page Trout Ciordia (Richard) and Robert Powel Trout (Janet Studley); his step-siblings Robert Lee Lynn (William Fleming), Elizabeth Lynn Ivey, and Richard Miller Lynn (Glorvina); and grandchildren, Alice and Raleigh Rudin, and Isla Suzanne Trout and Hugh Henry Trout, V; and numerous nieces and nephews who are all part of the ever-loving and always caring “Trout Lynn Clan” or “TLC” that Hugh held so dear.

Burial will be private. A celebration of life will be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to a charity of your choice or to a charity devoted to the treatment or cure of Alzheimer’s disease, such as the Alzheimer’s Association, https://www.alz.org/; the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, https://alzfdn.org/; or the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, https://curealz.org/.