November 7, 1953–March 8, 2025
WRITTEN BY MARY ANN WATSON
Previously published in memory of Dennis.
Dennis Watson has crossed the finish line of the 71-year marathon that was his remarkable life.
Born on November 7, 1953 in Detroit to Sam and Lucille Watson, Dennis was raised in Livonia, Michigan. He was the valedictorian of the Bentley High School graduating class of 1971. His commencement address is remembered by many classmates as a brave statement against the Viet Nam war and a call for gun control laws.
He then attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he majored in Journalism. A class on the First Amendment sparked his interest in law.
While he attended Wayne State University Law School Dennis worked on the Law Review and volunteered with the Landlord-Tenant clinic. After passing the bar exam in 1981 he worked for Judge Nathan Kaufman of the Michigan Court of Appeals. He then joined the law firm of Lampert, Fried, and Levitt, focusing primarily on representing the city of Novi. Eventually he became a partner in the firm Fried, Bugbee, and Watson.
He began running in his mid-thirties as a way of coping with the stress of a busy legal career. His many 10K races led to longer distances and a devotion to marathoning.
In 1996 Dennis qualified to run the Boston Marathon. It was his all-time favorite race. He studied its history and was inspired by its champions. He subsequently ran it six more times.
He had a goal to run a marathon in every state in the USA, which he completed in 2009. Altogether Dennis Watson ran 133 marathons and two JFK 50-mile races.
Dennis married his Bentley High School classmate Mary Ann (Rutkowski) Watson in 1977. It was a blissfully happy union in which both partners pledged, in the words of Bruce Springsteen, “to guard your dreams and visions.”
In 1980, on a lark, Dennis took the test to qualify for MENSA International—the high IQ organization that places an individual in the upper 2% of the general population. He passed and never mentioned it again.
When his wife was fighting breast cancer in 2000, Dennis took a sabbatical from law to care for her. Shortly after her recovery, Dennis himself was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. At that time Dennis was already a 10-gallon blood donor for the Red Cross. His first question to his oncologist was, “If I beat this cancer and recover can I still be a blood donor?” He was disappointed to learn he couldn’t.
His life was saved by a chemotherapy cocktail that’s research was funded by the American Cancer Society. He became a great supporter of the Relay for Life program and was an enthusiastic speaker at ACS fundraising events.
In October 2010 Dennis suffered an anoxic brain injury that resulted in a rare condition known as Delayed Post- Hypoxic Leukoencephalopathy. He was unresponsive for many months and Mary Ann was given little hope of any meaningful recovery. Yet, when he regained consciousness, he undertook years of rigorous rehab that eventually returned him to a quality of life that was complicated but never joyless.
Five years after the brain injury Dennis Watson participated in a clinical trial of high-definition transcranial direct stimulation (HD-tDCS) with primary investigator Dr. Benjamin Hampstead. Significant improvements were achieved in cognition and memory.
The research and testing continued until Dennis Watson was victim to a stroke in December 2021. Again, years of rehab followed. He endeared himself to scores of medical professionals, therapists and caregivers who worked with skill and compassion to allow him to live at his beloved home, “Rockaway,” in Scio Township.
On February 23, 2025 another stroke proved too much to endure. After five days in the hospital, unable to talk, swallow or participate in therapy, he removed his own feeding tube. His wife took this as a sign that he was ready to stop fighting and enter hospice.
He was home three days when he transitioned peacefully with Mary Ann at his side. In a final act of courage and humanity Dennis donated his brain to the University of Michigan Brain Bank for study and research.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann Watson; sister-in-law, Kathryn Scanio; brother-in-law, Vincent Scanio; nephews, Marc (Lisa) Scanio and Stephen (Jennifer) Scanio; niece, Annemarie Scanio; great-nephews, Oliver Scanio, James Scanio, and Donovan Hock; great-nieces, Jospehine Scanio, Amelia Scanio, and Palmer Hock; as well as his dearest friends, Jim and Janette Jackson, Nancy Temkin, Tom Mascaro, Diane and Tim Reckley and Dorathy Lawson.