Jaime E. Chamorro, Md

Jaime Ernesto Chamorro Salas, MD, 87, a retired orthopedic surgeon in Wakefield and member of a notable South American family, passed away on Tuesday, August 27th, surrounded by his four children and wife of 55 years, Mary Louise Farley Chamorro.

Born in 1936 in Quito, Ecuador, but raised in Pasto, Colombia, Dr. Chamorro was the eldest of ten children of Manuel Antonio Chamorro, MD, and Laura Graciela Chamorro Salas, an architect and member of the Salas family of Ecuadorian painters. Dr. Chamorro leaves behind his wife, Mary Louise Farley Chamorro, whom he married in 1969, as well as their four children and spouses: Luis Antonio Chamorro, DMD, MPH, and Patricia Chamorro Aguirre, DMD, of Charlotte, NC; Stella Osorojos Eisenstein, MTOM, and Charles Eisenstein of North Kingstown, RI; Pamela Chamorro Bridges, MSW, and Brian Bridges, MBA, of Westborough, MA; and Jaime Edmundo Chamorro, MBA, and Molly Hedrick, PhD, also of North Kingstown. Additionally, he is survived by seven grandchildren: Gabriela and Cristian Chamorro, Benjamin and Grace Bridges, Isaac and Leo Chamorro-Hedrick, and Cary Eisenstein. Predeceased by siblings Colombia, Mario, and Leonor, Dr. Chamorro’s remaining siblings are Gladys, Athala, Manuel, Ruth, Maria Eugenia and Nancy, of Cali and Bogotá.

In 1963, Dr. Chamorro earned an MD as well as a Masters in cultural anthropology from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. He completed medical residencies at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami as well as a General Surgery residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. While a General Orthopedic resident at the Medical College of Virginia, he met and fell in love with Mary Lou, then employed as a social worker, who caused him to abandon his plans to continue on to Europe. Instead, he held positions at Massachusetts General Hospital and Providence Hospital, before opening his private practice, first in the Bacon House at South County Hospital and then at the Wakefield Professional Center, where he practiced until his retirement in 2002. Specializing in total hip replacements, Dr. Chamorro loved his patients and was known for his conscientious care and warm manner.

In later life, Dr. Chamorro enjoyed golf, music, and learning French, Italian, and German. Through his final journey with pancreatic cancer, he came to appreciate the benefits of alternative medicine, which gave him ten pain-free months to continue to enjoy his treasured wife and family.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 10 AM in Christ the King Church, 180 Old North Road, Kingston. Calling hours will be held Friday, September 6, 2024 from 4 to 7 PM in the Avery-Storti Funeral Home, 88 Columbia St., Wakefield. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate to the Rhode Island Food Bank (https://rifoodbank.org/) or bring a non-perishable food item to the services.