John William Ambrose

Dr. John William Ambrose died unexpectedly while on a family vacation in Savannah, Georgia on January 17, 2025. He was born in Danvers, Massachusetts to parents Mary C. (Thompson) Ambrose and John Henry Ambrose.

John attended Danvers High School and became an ultimate philomath. From high school, he went on to Saint John’s Seminary where he received his bachelor’s degree in liberal arts/philosophy; then a career change took him into nursing starting at North Shore Community College. After that introduction to nursing, he attended Rush University for Anesthesia, Harvard Business School and the Medical University of South Carolina receiving his PhD, with a dissertation entitled ‘Resilience Engineering in Health Care Teams During Times of Pandemic’. His accomplished topics and manuscripts in Resilience Engineering provided him with opportunities to present his work in Sweden and became an invited member of the Resilience Health Care Society at the Jonkonping Academy for Improvement of Health and Welfare at Jonkoping University, Sweden. His academic accomplishments are vast and continued until his passing.

John worked in many hospitals across the country, from Massachusetts to Hawaii, Chicago to Southern Maine and back to Massachusetts.

John met and married his husband Laurence E. Miller III in October of 2014 in Portland, Maine. Laurence and John along with their two borzoi, Betty and Fred, moved back to Danvers from Southern Maine for job relocation.

Along with his life-long journey in academics, John enjoyed a variety of activities and hobbies. Theater, song, dance, softball, fiber arts, creative writing and pickleball are some of the many things he enjoyed.

John was predeceased by his mother and father, Macy C. and John H. Ambrose. He is survived by his husband, Rev. Laurence E. Miller and their two dogs, his sister Mary Ann Ordelt and her family and brother Michael Ambrose and his family.

Although John was a serious academic, his playfulness showed up in his life with those joyful hobbies and activities with Laurence and the pups. Laurence and the pups miss John dearly and feel great loss.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at 11:30a.m. in C.R. Lyons & Sons Funeral Directors, 28 Elm St., Danvers Square.  Family and friends will be received prior to the service from 10:30a.m.until 11:15a.m.  In honor of John’s playfulness, Laurence invites you to dress in colorful and casual attire as you feel fit. He is celebrating John’s colorful life. Donations may be made in John’s memory to NAGLY, North Shore Alliance of GLBTQ Youth, https://www.nagly.org/donate.  To share an expression of sympathy with John’s family, please visit www.LyonsFuneral.com.