Obituary: James “Jim” Orlo Pringle M.D.
James “Jim” Orlo Pringle, a longtime Maine urologist whose career spanned two decades and whose early years were rooted in a western Pennsylvania farming community, died May 30, 2026 at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough. He was 87.
Pringle had been battling metastatic prostate cancer and a rare prostatic sarcoma for several years, according to family members.
Born Oct. 5, 1938, in Geneva, Pa., Pringle grew up in Greenville, Pa., the seventh generation of a farm family that operated a dairy farm in Stoneboro and a feed store in town. He graduated from Penn High School in Greenville in 1956, where he was active in football, Boy Scouts and served as class president.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1960, completing the Navy’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program and joining the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I. After commissioning, Pringle served as a navigator and operations officer aboard the destroyer USS Perkins, home‑ported in San Diego, Calif. He rose to the rank of lieutenant before leaving the Navy in 1964.
His naval service sparked an interest in medicine. Rather than returning to the family feed business, he completed pre‑medical coursework at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, then entered Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, earning his M.D. in 1970. While in medical school, he met Jane Pearson, who would become his wife of 57 years. The two were married in Cleveland in 1969.
Pringle finished a two‑year general surgery residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland, then pursued a urology fellowship at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Jane completed her internal medicine internship at University Hospitals in 1972 and transferred her residency to McGill, where both finished their training in 1975. Their daughter Abigail was born in 1973 during their time in Canada.
In 1975 the family settled in Portland, Maine, where Pringle entered private practice with Bruce Nelson, M.D. The practice later expanded to include Hugh Robinson, M.D., and John Dyhrberg, M.D. He became board‑certified in urology in 1977 and was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons two years later.
Pringle served as an attending urologist at Maine Medical Center and held the position of chief of urology at Mercy Hospital in Portland. He also taught future physicians as a clinical instructor affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
In 1979, seeking more space for their growing family, Pringle and his wife moved to an 18th‑century farmhouse on 20 acres in Windham, Maine. Their daughter Rachel was born shortly before the relocation.
Pringle is survived by his wife, Jane Pearson Pringle, M.D.; three children, Abigail Pringle (and husband David Cromleigh) of Columbus, Ohio, Dwight Pringle, M.D., of South Portland, Maine, and Rachel Pringle (and husband Luke Frederick) of Truckee, Calif.; and four grandchildren, Elliot Atcheson, Catherine Cromleigh, Alden Frederick, and Mikaela Frederick. He was preceded in death by his parents, Dwight K. Pringle and Bernice I. (Sweny) Pringle, and his sister, Lynda Pringle Holm.
A memorial service is planned for later this summer. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Gosnell Memorial Hospice House, 11 Hunnewell Rd., Scarborough, ME 04074, in appreciation of the compassionate care provided during Pringle’s final days, or to a charity of the donor’s choice.
