Pediatric Cardiologist
Friday, February 10, 2006
Larry Honikman, 69, a Washington native who spent 30 years as a pediatric cardiologist in the Boston area, died Feb. 1 of complications
from diabetes at his home in Naples, Fla.
As a pediatrician specializing in cardiology, Dr. Honikman cared for children with heart problems from his private practice in Canton, Mass.,
until retiring in 2000.
Born in Washington, he graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1954. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia in
1957 and a medical degree from its medical school in 1961. The next year, he interned at the Royal Victoria Hospital at the McGill
University School of Medicine in Montreal.
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After his internship, Dr. Honikman served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps, 7th Missile Battalion. From 1962 to 1963, he was the
only surgeon providing medical services to 10 American units between Osan Air Base and Seoul, Korea, about 40 miles away.
After his military service, Dr. Honikman performed his residency in Boston at the Children's Hospital Medical Center (now Children's
Hospital Boston) and Harvard Medical School. He began his career at the children's hospital from 1968 to 1970 and had teaching
appointments at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard.
Early in his career, Dr. Honikman performed research in rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. He worked in the Rheumatic
Fever-Congenital Heart Clinic through the Massachusetts Department of Health. He served as co-chairman for a rheumatic fever workshop
sponsored by the Massachusetts Heart Association and the Massachusetts Department of Health.
He also gained widespread recognition from his work creating the guidelines for the selective use of throat cultures in the diagnosis of
strep respiratory infection.
Survivors include his wife, Elaine Honikman of Naples and Boston; three daughters, Sheryl Thorp of Chelmsford, Mass., Julie Sullivan of
Wrentham, Mass., and Amy Honikman of Boston; a twin sister, Geraldine Dubit of Chevy Chase; and four grandchildren.