Richard E. Mahoney; Retired Area Surgeon

Richard E. Mahoney, a longtime Ventura County resident and retired Camarillo State Hospital surgeon, has died of a lengthy illness. He was 75.

Born Feb. 5, 1921, in Washington, D.C., Mahoney spent much his childhood in the district.

After graduating from Newport High School in Rhode Island, he went to Tuft University’s medical school. He graduated in 1945.

Mahoney then interned at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia before serving two years in the Navy Medical Corps. He was stationed in the Caribbean.

After leaving the Navy in 1948, Mahoney completed his medical internship at Elyria Hospital in Elyria, Ohio, and then finished his surgeon’s residency at St. Alexis Hospital in Cleveland.

There, he met his future wife, Beatrice, who was a student nurse at the time.

After Mahoney completed his residency, the couple married in 1953 and moved to Boston. Mahoney started a private practice and began raising his family.

After a brief move to West Virginia, Mahoney accepted a job at Camarillo State Hospital as a general surgeon.

He moved his family to Camarillo in 1960. A few months after arriving, the couple settled in Ventura.

Mahoney retired in 1984, after serving 26 years as program director of the medical and surgical department of the hospital.

His greatest joy after retiring was five years spent as a volunteer doctor in Catholic missions in Papua, New Guinea, and Cameroon in West Africa, his wife said.

Shortly before he became ill, Mahoney and his wife completed a three-week tour of Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Mahoney liked to spend time with his family and was a volunteer at Our Lady of the Assumption Church. He also was a member of the Ventura Knights of Columbus and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters, Janet Mahoney of Los Angeles, Maureen Martinez of Coalinga, and Kathryn Mahoney of Arcata; two sons, Richard E. Mahoney Jr. of Ventura and Thomas Mahoney of Simi Valley, and two brothers, Joseph L. Mahoney of Ventura and Charles T. Mahoney of New Iberia, La.

Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Monday at the Joseph Reardon Funeral Chapel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Ventura. Burial will follow at Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Holy Cross School in Ventura, Catholic Charities of Ventura County, or to the Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai.