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Hugh R. Hayward, 78, founding conductor of the Oratorio Society of Montgomery County which became the Washington Chorus, died March 23, 2008 after a stroke at the La Vida Llena retirement community in Albuquerque, N.M. He had leukemia and lymphoma. Dr. Hayward, a physician who did research at the National Institutes of Health, alternated among careers in research, teaching music and biology at the Landon School in Bethesda, MD and musical performance, in an ever-evolving career motif. While a biochemistry researcher at the National Heart Institute in the late 1950's. Dr Hayward became the organist and choir director at Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda. At its 1961 debut, the Oratorio Society of Montgomery County "rose nicely to the task" wrote Washington Post critic Paul Hume. Dr. Hayward retired from leadership of the Oratorio Society in 1971. He graduate from Oberlin College in Ohio in 1951 and received a medical degree from the University of Rochester as a Doctor of Medicine with Honor in 1956. He interned at the University of North Carolina's hospital system. In Rochester and at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, where he worked while in college, he formed chamber choirs and played the recorder. He never practiced medicine but moved to Montgomery County in the late 1950's to work at The National Heart Institute with the husband and wife team of Earl and Thressa Stadtman. While building the Oratorio Society in the early 1960's, Dr. Hayward also directed the choral program at the all-boys Landon School. He left the school in 1965 gave private music lessons and resumed his work at Cedar Lane Unitarian church. He went back to Landon in 1971 as choral director, then became its 10th grade biology teacher from 1977-1987. When the school's groundskeeper retired Dr. Hayward took over supervision of the greenhouse and incorporated the greenhouse into his Advance Placement biology classes. In 1991, Dr. Hayward became a consultant to the National Cancer Institute and National Library of Medicine, where he helped create a database of cancer therapies. He enjoyed gardening and growing roses at his Bethesda home and West Virginia vacation cabin. He volunteered at the US Department of Agriculture's research center in Beltsville, MD. He moved to New Mexico in 1998 where he continued to enjoy gardening at LaVida Llena. Throughout his life he was a loyal supporter of many conservation and humanitarian and scholarship programs. He is survived by his loving family, His sister, Marilynn Meinke and her husband Wayne of Albuquerque, NM, His nephew, David Meinke and his wife Deborah and family of Stillwater, OK., and his niece Sue Walters and her husband LeRoy and family of Bethesda, MD. A memorial service was held at LaVida Llenda on April 4, 2008. French Mortuary, Inc. 7121 Wyoming Blvd. NE (505) 823-9400 www.frenchmortuary.com
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