Dr. Joseph Forest Sherer, Jr, age 93, of Vero Beach, FL and Little Compton, RI, died peacefully on Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Joe was the devoted husband of Suzanne Butler Sherer and previously the late Mary Mackintosh Sherer who died in 1979. He will be greatly missed by his daughter, Adelaide, and her husband Thomas Vander Salm of Salem, MA, his son, Joseph F. Sherer, III, and his wife Catherine of Little Compton, and his stepsons, Jackson D. Waterbury, III, and his wife Margaret, and Arthur B. Waterbury, of St. Louis, MO. He leaves seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Joe was predeceased by sisters Jeanette Merriman, Helene Smith, and Edith Whitin and brothers Osborn and Charles. Joe was the son of Joseph F. Sherer and Marion Osborn Sherer.

Born in Worcester, MA, Joe attended the Bancroft School, the Brooks School in North Andover, MA, and graduated from Harvard College in 1941 where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding and Spee Clubs. He received a MD degree from Tufts Medical School in 1945 and completed a year of internship at Boston City Hospital. After discharge from the U.S. Army with the rank of captain, Joe completed a residency at the University of Pennsylvania and obtained a master's of science degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1952.

Joe formed a urological partnership in Worcester where he continued to practice medicine for the next 35 years. During that time, he became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Diplomat of the American Board of Urology, held the role of New England representative to the American Urological Association, and was a member of the American Medical Association, the Massachusetts Medical Society, the New England Urological Society where he served a term as president, and the New England Cancer Society. He held the position of Chief of Urology at Worcester's Memorial Hospital, President of the Board of Memorial Hospital, and founding Professor and Chairman of Urology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Active in the community, Joe contributed his time as trustee of the Worcester Science Center, President of the Board of the Bancroft School, trustee of the Worcester Horticultural Society, member of the Worcester Fire Society, and President of the Laurel Brook Club. He was particularly devoted to Brooks School where he was a member of the Alumni Council, president of the Board of trustees, and recognized in 2012 by receiving the year's Distinguished Brooksian award.

In between his pursuit of professional and civic activities, Joe found time for his love of the outdoors. Having spent time growing up on his father's farm in Little Compton, Joe early on developed a skill for gardening and never stopped enjoying watching his vegetables and fruit trees grow. The garden that he and his wife, Mary, tended in Holden, MA won a Worcester County Horticultural Society award. His garden and orchard In Little Compton were so bountiful that he regularly supplied family and friends with beautiful produce all season long. A recreational lobster license allowed him to provide family with fresh lobster from the Sakonnet River. His cooking was practiced, inspired, and took full advantage of the garden, rivers , ocean, and woods.

Joe was an avid skier but his real loves were golf, fly fishing, and upland game hunting. He greatly enjoyed his membership in the Bay State Seniors and U.S. Seniors Golf Associations and the people he met through these organizations. He was a lifelong member of the Sakonnet Golf Club and The Country Club in Brookline, MA but especially enjoyed his time and fellow members at the Riomar Country Club in Vero Beach where he moved with his wife, Suzie, in the early 1990's.

His passion for fishing and hunting was the prime driver behind most of his travels and led him to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, New Zealand, and Iceland as well as throughout the US and Canada. His fishing and hunting interests led him to join the Laurel Brook Club in Uxbridge, MA and the Anglers Club of New York.
Fishing interests also led Joe to become one of the founding members of the Black Brook Salmon Club in Blackville, New Brunswick, Canada. He and Suzie very much enjoyed everything about being in camp and fishing on the Miramichi River. He especially looked forward to spending time with the guides on the bank of a river, swapping stories, reminiscing about the past, and looking forward to future fishing adventures.

The plight of the wild Atlantic salmon troubled Joe. He served on the Board of Directors of the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Joe was instrumental in Black Brook's adoption of a catch and release fishing policy. He was also an early advocate for the rearing of Atlantic salmon fry in satellite tanks on the river, with the juvenile fish raised in the tanks released into the river to augment wild salmon stocks.

Joe was able to remain active until the end. This past summer, he tended his garden from May until October and spent a total of four weeks fishing on the Miramichi River.
A memorial service in celebration of Joe's life will be held at the United Congregational Church in Little Compton at 10:30 AM on Friday, July 6, 2012. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his honor to the United Congregational Church, PO Box 506, Little Compton, RI 02837.

Arrangements are under the direction of Cox Gifford Seawinds Funeral Home and Crematory. Online condolences may be sent at www.coxgiffordseawinds.com