The Obituaries of January*

Mr. Simon Rivington…… March 7, 1979 — January 24, 2020

A spokesperson for The Ainsley Foundation, an independent not for profit organization that trains health care professionals to work in the developing world, announced the death earlier today of co-founder, Mr. Simon Rivington.

Mr. Rivington had been fighting Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for several years and as a result, had scaled back his day-to-day work at the foundation. He did, however, remain involved with the foundation’s award-winning mentorship program. Many of the health care professionals instrumental in combatting Ebola outbreaks in Sierra Leone and Liberia were trained at The Ainsley Foundation. Mr. Rivington personally traveled to Sierra Leone in 2014 to provide support to foundation doctors on the ground there.

Mr. Rivington became interested in public health after his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was a teenager. Tuberculosis was thought to have been completely eradicated in this country until new cases began to appear in public housing and other lower-income communities. During his attempts to get proper care for his mother, Mr. Rivington met Dr. Phillip Ainsley, who specialized in pulmonary medicine. Dr. Ainsley became Mr. Rivington’s mentor and friend, supporting and encouraging Mr. Rivington’s pursuit of his Masters in Science degree in Public Health.

In 2010, the two established The Ainsley Foundation, and to date, over three hundred fully trained doctors and nurse practitioners have graduated from the foundation’s medical program and gone on to make significant progress in combatting preventable diseases in developing countries around the world.

Mr. Rivington is survived by his wife, Cheree Rivington-Wilson, and their three children. Funeral arrangements are being made with details to be announced.

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*This is a fictional obituary using a stock photo from a Medium-approved source.