For almost 50 years, Dr Peter Licht and his physician’s assistant wife, Susan, have navigated the ever-evolving medical world for Newtown patients. Peter opened his practice at 172 Mt Pleasant Road in 1978, and he stayed there with his wife until the very last day of 2025. Susan and Peter are now officially retired.

Peter graduated from medical school in 1974 and then spent a year in Danbury Hospital’s emergency department. As he put it, “You sort of become an expert in taking care of respirators and stuff like that, but not any out-patient stuff.” Peter loved working in the emergency room, but after a year of working there, he went “right out to” 172 Mt Pleasant Road.

While the practice had more “younger people” in it at the beginning, it “morphed into … pure adult practice” for internal medicine. Though Peter had left the hospital, it still was a major part of his job. He would visit patients regularly, even bringing his children along with him for rounds. The practice was, after all, a total family affair.

“It was … just a lot of fun, very stimulating, shared a lot of stuff. We had residents practicing through here. There was a lot of communication between the hospital at that time and internists,” Peter said. He shared that most of his days started with hospital medicine and visits, then he would go to the practice in Newtown.

“Few days were less than ten hours, and very, very frequently you did seven-day weeks. So, it was a lot of work, but you’re building up a practice and you’re just sort of enjoying what you’re doing and very focused on that,” Peter said.

Susan and Peter remembered the beginnings of their practice, when patients would “pay you in cash on the way out,” but health maintenance organizations came into the picture and changed the procedures and the way patients were cared for.

Susan said, “Something that’s changed, too, is in the old days, you saw everything — people who needed wounds/lacerations sewed up, you saw little kids with earaches. Then the insurance has started to say, ‘Oh no, little kids have to go to a pediatrician.’ We used to take x-rays.” Peter even noted that there used to be a radiologist’s suite in the practice, but it has now become an exam room.

Susan’s Role And A Growing Family

At the beginning of the practice, Susan planned to “just help out.” She started as the receptionist, answering phones and scheduling appointments. Then, she became a medical assistant.

“But Peter had worked with PAs in the emergency room, and really thought that that was a good, mid-level type of practice to get into, and thought I would be good at it. So, he suggested, and I agreed, and I went back to school in 1983 at Yale Medical School’s PA program,” Susan said. “So I wasn’t here for a couple of years, and then I came back, rejoined in 1985 and I’ve been working as a practitioner ever since … It’s been a nice, sort of team effort.”

“I love PAs,” Peter said. He noted that they are a “pleasure to work with.”

Susan talked about her personal journey a little more. She shared that the couple had two young children at the time she decided to go to medical school. Susan mentioned that their daughter used to play under the desk with Lego.

Finding the balance between running a bustling medical practice and raising a young family was a challenge, but the two made it work. Peter reminisced about bringing his son with him on rounds at the hospital, and shared a story about how he had left his daughter behind by accident.

Susan noted that the staff even became family, with some members having worked there for 20 years.

“It’s been kind of like a big family endeavor,” she said.

Deciding To Move Towards The Future

The couple confessed they had been thinking about retirement for a while, but kept pushing it off by “one more year.”

Peter said the congratulatory wishes “rang funny” to him. “For us, it’s not a congratulations. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we have not had to do it … We do this only because we love it,” Peter said.

Susan added that “it’s hard to stop” because they had been working at the practice for 47 years.

Despite dealing with insurance and “all that garbage,” as Peter put it, he enjoyed working with his patients. He really liked all of them and thought they were “interesting.” Peter and Susan have shared so much with their patients over the years it became like “seeing a friend.”

“At the end of the day, I have the last patient, there’s nobody waiting. You have time. I mean, you could talk about anything. These simple visits turn into long things … I just absolutely love the people that I’m leaving, and in that respect, it’s extremely sad,” Peter said. He also mentioned some patients have medical issues he wants to continue to monitor, but he will no longer be able to do so.

“It’s very bittersweet,” Susan said. “We’ve actually got families where we’ve seen three generations. It’s really wonderful. People’s kids’ kids come to us, and that’s going to be hard just to stop, but I have loved what I have done.”

Armed with love and kindness, the two consider themselves “lucky” to have Jen Holloway in the practice. Peter is confident that she will continue to run the practice well and with the Lichts’ philosophy: time.

Peter and Susan spent time with their patients to ensure they were healthy and went beyond the typical requirements from insurance plans. With this extra time, Peter was able to discover an abdominal mass on an elderly patient that would have otherwise been missed. This philosophy did not take a day off, either; Peter said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple did not miss a day. The two enjoyed being in the office and providing care to the Newtown community.

Now, the two plan to spend time in Rhode Island and Florida, as well as see their family more. Susan said that she hopes to clean up the house a bit, too.

Peter shared that he has “got to be doing something,” so he has “threatened” his son that he would start working for him. Though his son did not seem enthused with the idea, Peter still hopes to help out. He also looks forward to reading more, as he does not think he has read a “non-medical book” in ten years.

The two hope to stay involved in Newtown by volunteering with different organizations and “tak[ing] advantage of what Newtown has to offer,” which, as Susan noted, “is a lot.” The couple expressed gratitude for the community and their patients over the years.

“We are very happy to have been a part of this community. We’re a little sad that we’re changing our role in it, but we continue to feel like we’re Newtowners, and we hope that people will be interested to see what we’re up to,” Susan said.

“There have been some really phenomenal people in this community,” Peter said. “We’ve been really, really fortunate enough to get to know a good number of people and just the stories and the tremendous courage that a lot of people have shown.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.