Gregg Owens ’70

Gregg Owens died in Pittsburgh on Sept. 17. He had been in a coma for three years following a stroke.

A native of Glen Dale, W.Va., he came to Princeton from the Linsley School in Wheeling. He majored in biology while participating in Whig-Clio, Orange Key, and Tiger Band. Other highly favored pastimes included Charter Club, bridge, pong, and his band, Gates of Eden.

Following medical school at Penn, Gregg focused his study on the health effects of smoking. After kicking the habit himself, he began research in the then-small field, eventually leading the Lung Health Study at Pitt, beginning in 1985. He held leadership positions in the Pennsylvania Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Thoracic Society, the Pennsylvania Society for Respiratory Disease, and the American Lung Assn. of Pennsylvania.

As deeply as he will be missed in his profession, his friends and family will miss his warmth and concern even more. To his widow, Dr. Jane Owens, their children, Gregory and Allison, his mother, Anna, and sister Gay, the class extends its sympathy as well as its deep admiration for their forebearance during Gregg's extended incapacity.

The Class of 1970