Hanover When C. Everett Koop wrapped up his tenure as the surgeon general, he had his pick of academic institutions to settle into. But he chose Dartmouth College, where he once fell in love with the region's mountains, skiing and his first wife, Betty.

Throughout his career as a pediatric surgeon, and later during his service as the U.S. governments top medical officer in the 1980s, Koop always came back to the Upper Valley, where he kept a vacation home in Etna and where two of his sons eventually raised their families.

Koop would later attribute his career path to decisions he first made as a Dartmouth student more than 70 years go.

I cant imagine that any incoming Dartmouth freshman prepared with greater enthusiasm than I did, he wrote in Koop, his 1991 autobiography. I knew every Dartmouth song as well as those of the other Ivy League schools.

Koop died in Hanover yesterday at the age of 96. He had been in declining health for several months and suffered kidney failure last week, said Lester Gibbs, Koops personal aide.

At Dartmouth he earned the nickname Chick, and played on the football team, where he received a head blow that injured his vision which required him to wear glasses the rest of his life.

After stepping down as surgeon general, Koops two sons, Allen and Norman, urged their father to leave Washington and return to the Upper Valley.

Joe ODonnell, a senior scholar at Dartmouths C. Everett Koop Institute, had been admiring Koops career for years, and was encouraging Dartmouth medical students to take his cue and become involved in public service.

When he came here, it was like I died and went to heaven, ODonnell said.

Despite Koops stern face, Captain Ahab beard, natty bow ties and intimidating accomplishments, he was an approachable man, ODonnell said, with a surprising sense of humor. ODonnell related how Koop was once sitting on a plane when another passenger turned to him and remarked, Has anyone ever told you that you look like Dr. Koop?

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A Nation’s Doctor Who Came Home to Hanover