William J. Schrimpf, a prominent Cincinnati otolaryngologist, died June 17 at his Westwood home of lung disease. He was 81.

        “He loved the practice of medicine and his family — although not necessarily in that order,” said a son, Thomas of Green Township.

        Like their father, Thomas and his twin brother, Robert, of Batesville, Ind., also are ear, nose and throat physicians. They practiced with their father from 1982 until his retirement in 1991.

        The senior Dr. Schrimpf was raised in Cheviot. He graduated from St. Xavier High School and earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Xavier University in 1943. He attended medical school at Loyola University in Chicago.

        Dr. Schrimpf returned to Cincinnati and married Margaret Freytag in 1947, before entering the military that year.

        He served in the medical corps for the Army and the Air Force, stationed in the Panama Canal, Germany and Texas. During this period, Dr. Schrimpf also attended the University of Pennsylvania and completed additional graduate work in medicine.

        After his 1953 military discharge, Dr. Schrimpf returned to Cincinnati and opened a medical practice in Clifton. In the early 1960s, he became the first Cincinnati otolaryngologist to perform a stapedectomy, a procedure that enabled him to restore hearing to hundreds of patients.

        Also during the 1960s, he was an instructor in the University of Cincinnati Medical College's Ear, Nose and Throat department.

        After retirement, Dr. Schrimpf's passion for art kept him busy.

        He was also a woodworker who made grandfather clocks for his sons when they married and built one for his wife for their 50th wedding anniversary.

        Dr. Schrimpf was a knight commander in the Knights of Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; past president of the Cincinnati Otolaryngological Society, and served on the executive board of Good Samaritan Hospital.

        He was a member of St. Catharine of Siena Church in Westwood.

        In addition to his sons and his wife, Dr. Schrimpf is survived by a sister, Joan Eckert of Hartwell; and five grandchildren.

        Services have been held. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Montgomery.

        Memorials: St. Xavier High School Foundation, 600 W. North Bend Road, Cincinnati, OH 45224; or the University of Cincinnati Medical College's ENT Department's resident education fund — Christian R. Holmes Society, P.O. Box 670528, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0528.

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