Dr. Samuel Poindexter Oast III passed peacefully away at his home in New York City on April 1, 2017.
Sam was born on June 4, 1924, in Columbus, Ohio, the first son of Dr. Samuel P. Oast, Jr., of Portsmouth, and Dorothy Harper Oast of London, Ontario. The family moved to New York City and then to Scarsdale, NY, where Sam attended the public schools. The family later moved to Portsmouth. Sam always recalled fondly the summer days spent with his grandparents, parents, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins at the family cottage on Willoughby in the years before the Second World War.
Sam attended the University of Virginia, and received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia. He also received a Master's Degree in Public Health from Columbia University in New York. He began his medical career as doctor in the US Navy immediately after the War; he was stationed in Japan and other posts in the Pacific. Beginning in 1950, he worked as a pediatrician in the New York area, and later became a psychiatrist. He worked as an administrator for the mental health division of the New York City Public Health Department, and later went into private practice.
After retiring from practice, Sam was active in many social justice causes in and around New York. He volunteered at the Catholic Worker and at All Saints Episcopal Church in Manhattan, preparing and serving meals to the poor and homeless, and he regularly attended the Fifteenth Street Friends Meeting, where he advocated tirelessly for peace.
Sam was preceded in death by his father (1942), mother (1978), and brother Robert (2012). He is survived by his nephews Robert Oast, Jr., (wife Tracy), and by Thomas Oast. Samuel Obeng was Sam's loyal caregiver during the last years of his life, and made his continued--and fiercely cherished--independence possible, and the family thanks him and his wife, Rita, warmly.
Despite living most of his life in New York City, Sam always considered Portsmouth home. There will be a graveside service at Oak Grove Cemetery on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., April 8, 2017.
In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to All Saints Episcopal Church, the Catholic Worker, and the Fifteenth Street Friends Meeting, all in New York City. Condolences may be registered at BWFosterFuneralHome.com.