Dr Maurice Barancik

Maury was born Feb 16, 1936 at University of Chicago Hospitals to Carrie (Grawoig) Barancik, a pianist, oil painter and graduate of the Chicago Musical College, and Henry Barancik MD. Survivors include his wife Maija, daughter Marsha, son Andy and grandson Colin.

Maury lived on Chicago’s South Side, where he attended Hyde Park High School.  At age 13 he moved with his parents to Coral Gables, FL, where he won the 1950 Bausch and Lomb Science Medal. He later attended University of Michigan and Northwestern Medical School. In 1960 Maury graduated from Northwestern and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.  

Six months into an internal medicine residency, he was drafted by the U.S. Army to serve as battle group surgeon and captain in South Korea, on a “trip wire” mountain base near the DMZ. He bonded with his career officers over chess during freezing nights. Camp Kaiser was in the desolate Chorwon Valley, a historical route for invaders to enter South Korea. 

In retrospect, “the Army was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Maury often said. The following year he was assigned to Fitzsimmons Army Medical Hospital where he served in the dermatology clinic. During the intermission of a movie held off-campus, he met Maija-Liisa (Lattunen), an operating room nurse from Helsinki. In 1964, he married Maija in Northwestern Hospital’s Wesley Pavilion chapel. They privately celebrated their union at Pizzeria Uno and at a ski resort in northern Michigan. The honeymoon quickly became comical as Maury had never skied before and Maija was an expert.

The newlyweds soon moved to California, where Maury finished a gastroenterology residency at the University of California San Francisco Hospitals, Maija freelanced in a newborn nursery and his daughter, Karen (Bernoteit) was born. They worked blocks from the blossoming counter-culture neighborhood of Haight Asbury. While presenting a paper at a Bay Area medical conference, he met a University of Chicago Hospitals professor who offered him the job of chief resident at University of Chicago Hospitals.

In 1967 the family settled down in Rockford, IL, where their family grew. Maury launched a gastroenterology practice at the Rockford Clinic and worked there for 32 years. He cherished his years in Rockford, where he raised beautiful, athletic children whom he adored. He enjoyed cheering them on a swim meets, tennis matches and equestrian events — and the time they spent as a family at the Rockford Country Club.

The last season of his life was spent in both Chicago and Naples, FL where Maury explored his passion for bird photography. He was proud of his one-man exhibition at the Corkscrew Audubon Sanctuary and local photography awards he won.

In Chicago he was a member of University Club and its photography society, where he presented several times on bird photography. He was also a member of the Chicago Council on Global affairs. He loved returning to his roots, and sharing his youth experiences with his grandson.

Services are at 10 am Friday, October 30 at Moorings Presbyterian Church, 791 Harbour Drive, Naples, FL.