Leslie Clive Ellwood, MD

Leslie Clive Ellwood, MD CAPT (Ret) USN passed away peacefully on February 20, 2025 at home in Ashburn, VA attended by his loving family. He was 81 years old. A dedicated servant to both his country and community, Dr. Ellwood was a constant example of duty, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to the well-being of others, particularly children.

Born June 9, 1943 to Ross and Freda Ellwood in Coconut Grove, Florida, Leslie was the youngest of three boys, including brothers Ross and Warren. Fulfilling a childhood aspiration to become a pediatrician, Leslie received his Doctor of Medicine from the College of Medicine at the University of Florida in 1968. The young Dr. Ellwood began a Navy rotating internship at Bethesda Naval Hospital starting in July 1968. The traumas of wartime internship were thankfully lightened by the courtship of Elaine D Noonan, RN, a civil service nurse in the Bethesda Newborn and Intensive Care Nurseries. Leslie and Elaine were married on July 19, 1969, the beginning of a wonderful journey for 55 years.

Over a remarkable twenty year career in the United States Navy, Leslie was committed to care of sailors, Marines, and their families, serving multiple assignments in California, Virginia, and Maryland. In addition to his demanding clinic, hospital, and call duties, Leslie established Navy family support clinics on both coasts and published regularly on behavioral health issues facing Navy families. He helped to found the Uniformed Services Pediatrics Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and upon his retirement in 1987, he was awarded the Navy Legion of Merit. In recognition of his endless energy and steady leadership in advancing military pediatrics, the keynote lecture of the Annual Uniformed Services Pediatrics Seminar was named the Dr. Leslie Ellwood Lecture for the next 16 years.

Following his retirement, Leslie transitioned to civilian pediatric care with Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States. Spending 19 years with Kaiser, Leslie cared for thousands of children and families and was appointed Chief of Pediatrics for the Northern Virginia region. He mentored numerous pediatric residents and physician assistant students in the clinic and supported clinician education nationwide as a founding member of the Commission for Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. Leslie was an active member of the Virginia Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics, serving as President from 2004-2006, and the Medical Society of Northern Virginia, becoming President in 2006. He spent almost 20 years advocating for pediatric causes with regional and state policy makers such as adopting early hearing detection and intervention, creation of the Virginia Immunization Information System, and expanding healthcare access for all children in Virginia.

Throughout his adult life Leslie was devoted to his wife and sons and an active member of his communities. He saved time for weekends and holidays together, taught his sons to swim, helped with homework and school projects, spent weekends camping with scouts, encouraged a lifelong love of music, and brought them along in travels across the United States and the world. Leslie was an active member of the McLean community, where the Ellwood family moved in 1983. He was a volunteer organist for St Luke Church in McLean and was a lead advocate for the purchase of the Steiner-Reck organ central to both worship and performing arts programs for the greater McLean community. He founded the Langley HS Band Association to support the growing band program and served as Committee Chair for Boy Scout Troop 865 at St Luke Church. An avid gardener, Leslie especially enjoyed growing tomatoes and green beans for his family.

Leslie is survived by Elaine and their three sons, Michael (Johanna) of Charlottesville, VA, Stephen (Ella) of Rockville, MD, Thomas (Heidi) of Fairfax Station, VA. He is remembered with his ready smile and endless for his five grandchildren and his nephew and niece, William, Benjamin, Brienne, Caeli, and Kyra Ellwood, and Cian and Taryn Noonan.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia, on Monday, March 3, 2025 at 11am. Details about a commemorative gathering and interment at the National Memorial Cemetery at Quantico are to come. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to in his memory to the Healthy Kids Fund and the The Ross Roberts Fund for the Arts at the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, both incredible initiatives that reflect his passions and the values he held dear.