John Hugh Bryan was born January 9, 1944, to James Herman Bryan and Edna Pearl Hardy Bryan. Hugh grew up in Institute, a small farming community outside of Kinston, North Carolina.
From a young age, he worked alongside his father and his uncles on the family farm. He recalled driving wagons of tobacco pulled by mules, and he spent more than a few days “putting in” tobacco. Hugh said that the most important thing he learned from tobacco farming was that he did not want to be a farmer.
Growing up with a loving and large extended family, Hugh had an idyllic childhood. All his cousins grew up together in and around Institute, playmates as well as family. His sense of family and love of family never left him.
He loved going to the double-feature movies in La Grange on Saturdays. He said he would buy a movie ticket, popcorn, and a Coke for a dime. His grandfather Hardy would drop him off, and he’d run errands until time to collect Hugh again.
Hugh always truly valued music. His sister recalled that George Gershwin and Broadway musical tunes were continuously wafting out of his room.
He graduated from La Grange High School as valedictorian. He went on to the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill to study medicine but as an English major. He said that all he ever wanted to be was a physician. Hugh was president of his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. He was also a member of the UNC Men’s Glee Club.
Hugh entered UNC School of Medicine and graduated in 1969. He then completed an internship in pediatrics and served as Assistant Resident in Pediatrics. He completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at North Carolina Memorial Hospital, after which he was a faculty member at UNC practicing pediatric oncology. He was at UNC for 16 years, including undergraduate, medical school, faculty member, and a practicing physician.
He later became a clinical associate in the medical oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.
After many years in pediatric oncology, Hugh developed an interest in radiation oncology and entered a residency at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, completing the residency in 1981. He remained for an additional year as an Assistant Professor of Radiation Therapy. There he met his Marion Monahan, his wife of 44 years.
Leaving Philadelphia, Hugh returned to North Carolina, to Fayetteville and opened his practice, Southeastern Radiation Oncology, at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in March 1982. With no treatment available for cancer patients in Cumberland County and the surrounding area, patients requiring radiation therapy had to travel to Durham, Raleigh, or Chapel Hill (a roughly 120-mile round trip daily for several weeks).
He was sole physician for several years and on call 24/7 for his patients. As his practice grew, he and his partners opened three additional centers: Gibson Cancer Center, serving Robeson County; Health Pavilion North, serving Cumberland and Harnett County; and Harnett Cancer Center in Lillington, serving Harnett County.
Hugh shared in an interview, “ … Radiation oncology is an extremely gratifying specialty. It does have a dimension with technology and physics and the machines that makes it a lot of fun. The bottom line is what can you do for your patients. With great technology and a great staff that’s so competent and that loves to do this stuff, our patients benefit in the long term. I will say we have a fun around here … –a happy place, our patients are happy here. We good take care of them, and we get good outcomes. I think every patient that I treat becomes a friend. Every time that I go to Harris Teeter, I see usually [one or two of my patients].” A 2016 article from The Fayetteville Observer quoted Margaret Ann Alligood, “I’m just going to wait right here to give him [Dr. Bryan] a hug.” The article continues, “As he emerges from around the corner …. he spies Alligood and offers a warm and unhurried welcome.” “He’s so comfortable, so easy to talk to,” Alligood notes. Then she declares, “And he’s the sharpest dresser.”
He retired as Medical Director at age 78, three years ago. Hugh practiced medicine for 56 years.
No question about it, Hugh’s greatest love and the source of his deepest pride was his family. His biggest gift was his children, and then he was blessed with five grandchildren, who called him Papa.
He loved traveling—European trips, trips to the Caribbean, New York City and taking in the Broadway shows. Wherever he traveled, a highlight for Hugh was visiting museums and fine restaurants. Some of the favorite travel, however, was no farther than to their house at Wrightsville Beach. He was such a devoted Carolina basketball fan that he held the same four seats in the Dean Smith Center since it opened in January 1986. A day spent in Chapel Hill followed by a game shared with family and friends with, perhaps, a Manhattan or two was a special day for Hugh.
All his life, he took great pleasure in going to the farm in Institute and being with his sisters and cousins. Pig pickings, oyster roasts, Easter, Homecoming Sunday at the church, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve party—gatherings at the farm he dearly loved.
Hugh was a voracious reader—always learning. His hobbies were reading and gardening. A runner, he was a familiar sight on Fayetteville streets. He would get up every morning at 4:30 a.m. to run for 90 minutes to clear his head and start his workday. On weekends, he would often run for two hours, only stopping when he ran out of time.
Hugh was 81 (almost 82) when he passed away on the morning of December 18, 2025. His life was one of giving and enriching the lives of others—loving and supporting for his family and friends; offering his knowledge, talents, experience for the community and his patients; and simply having a smile to all—giving himself a life well- and fully-lived in the process.
Hugh was predeceased by his father, James Herman Bryan; his mother, Edna Pearl Hardy Bryan; sister, Margaret Anne Bryan; and son, Robert Hugh Bryan, Hugh’s survivors are his wife of 44 years and best friend, Marion Monahan Bryan; son, Kendle Carmer Bryan; his daughters Jessica Elizabeth Bryan and Katherine Bryan Knise (Matthew); his five grandchildren, Kendle James Bryan (Jack), Lillian Candace Bryan (Lily), Evelyn Liu Bryan, William Hugh Knise, and Charles Daniel Knise; his sisters, Jane Bryan Gridley (Gregory) and Susan Bryan Falkowski (Frank), and Marion’s brothers, John Monahan (JoAnne) and David Monahan (Margaret). In addition, Hugh is survived by a close-knit band of cousins.
According to Hugh’s wishes, the services will be private. The family is planning to celebrate Hugh’s life at the family farm at a later date.
If you wish to remember Hugh with support for a cause that was close to his heart, please consider a contribution to:
Friends of the Cancer Center c/o Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation, 101 Robeson St, Suite 106, Fayetteville NC 28301 or
UNC Loyalty Fund (Checks made out UNC Health Foundation. Please specify UNC Loyalty Fund in memo.) PO 1050, Chapel Hill NC 27514—1050
Hugh’s family deeply appreciates the gracious outpouring of love and caring.
Online condolences may be left at www.jerniganwarren.com
Arrangements by Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home, 545 Ramsey St., Fayetteville, NC 28301