Edward D. Harris Jr. of Edgartown died after a lengthy illness on May 21 in Thetford Hill, Vt. He was 73.

Ted was born on July 7, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pa., the only son of Edward D. and Eleanor C. Harris, and he was raised and educated in Camp Hill, Pa. In 1954, he enrolled at Dartmouth College where he majored in English and played on the football team until an injury cut short his college athletics career. He attended Dartmouth Medical School from 1958 to 1960, and he graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1962. He did his early medical training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and at the National Institute of Health in Washington, D.C.

When he returned to Hanover, N.H., in 1970, Dr. Harris became Dartmouth Medical School’s chief of connective tissue disease section, and in 1979 he was named Eugene W. Leonard professor of internal medicine. His career path led him in 1983 to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of N.J. (UMDNJ-Rutgers Medical School) where he served as professor and chairman of the department of medicine, and in 1987 he moved to Stanford University in Palo Alto, Ca., to become professor and chairman of the department of medicine until his retirement in 2003. Over the past seven years, Dr. Harris has remained active in various academic and medical circles, serving as the executive secretary of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the academic secretary to Stanford University.

An avid and accomplished outdoorsman, Ted spent much of his leisure time skiing, sailing, fishing, kayaking and playing tennis. Golf became one of his passions later in his life; he appreciated the game’s precision and loved the experience of spending time outside with friends and family. He also loved the adventure and challenge of traveling to new places, to experience the rich variety of life in the United States and around the world.

He is survived by his former wife, Mary Ann Hayward of Palo Alto, Ca.; his son Ned Harris, and wife, Edie Meacham, and their children, Andrew and Eliza of Baltimore, Md.; his son Tom Harris, and wife, Kate Reavey, and their children, Maeve and Liam; and his son Chandler Harris of Thetford Hill, Vt.

A private interment service as well as a memorial service will take place in Palo Alto in late summer. Dr. Harris’s family members would be grateful for memorial contributions to the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation, or to a charity of one’s choice.