Obituary of Anne Marie Antoinette Riether

Anne Marie Riether M.D., 65, of Pittsboro, NC, died at UNC hospital in Chapel Hill on December 1, 2020, surrounded by her loving and devoted children. She was born June 21, 1955, in Trenton, NJ, to Robert and Rachel Riether. Anne Marie was a graduate of Saint Mary’s Cathedral High School class of 1973.  She attended college and medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received her medical degree in 1981.

Dr. Riether had a distinguished career as a psychiatrist in Atlanta, GA, pioneering new sub-specialties in psychiatry related to organ transplantation, and addiction medicine. She authored many articles in medical books and journals, and was highly respected by her peers. She was a highly skilled and compassionate physician, and greatly loved by her many patients.

Anne Marie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993, and soon became an influential figure nationwide in the support for patients like herself. She played a major role in convincing Congress to include access to drugs in development for people with serious illnesses such as MS in the FDA Modernization Act of 1997. In recognition of her efforts, Dr. Riether received the National MS Society’s National Achievement award in 1998. Both before and after her diagnosis, she gained strength and determination through her regular practice of karate for many years.

After spending much of her adult life in Georgia, Anne Marie retired back to her college town of Chapel Hill in 2015, becoming a resident of Fearrington Village in Durham. While in Fearrington, Anne Marie would make many friends and take an active role in the community. Following her passion for teaching, she worked to get her medical license reinstated and became an adjunct professor in the UNC Medical School’s physician’s assistant program and at Elon University. It was also during this time that Anne Marie would be matched with one of her closest companions: her service dog Kirby. She and Kirby traveled everywhere together including Italy, where she lived for four months at the end of 2019. This trip fulfilled a lifelong dream of living in the country where so much of her family originated.

Anne Marie was preceded in death by her mother and father, Rachel Virginia Riether (nee Denny) and Robert Karl Riether, as well as her older brother, Dr. Robert D. Riether.

She is survived by her loving children, Kalynn Smith of Steamboat Springs, CO, Taylor Smith of Macon, GA, and Laura Kathryn Smith of Portland, OR. She was interred alongside her parents at Our Lady of Lourdes cemetery in Trenton in a private ceremony. Her family plans to have a celebration of her life and birthday in June of 2021 with details to follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her name to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta.

The Reither family is under the care of Walker's Funeral Home of Chapel Hill.