Jack H. Oppenheimer ’49

Jack died April 16, 2006, after a long illness. He was 78.

He prepared for Princeton at East Orange (N.J.) High School and majored in biology, graduating with honors. He served in the Coast Guard from July 1945 until October 1946.

Following graduation, Jack attended Columbia University Medical School and led an extremely productive and distinguished career in academic medicine. He was one of the world's preeminent thyroid experts and research scientists, and pioneered many breakthroughs in endocrinology. He was director of endocrinology at Montefiore Hospital/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y., until 1976, when he moved to the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine, where he stayed for 25 years as chairman of the division of endocrinology and metabolism.

Jack earned National Institutes of Health grants for 40 consecutive years and received several distinguished service awards for his thyroid research. Jack claimed that he had no outside interests other than his family because medicine was both his career and his hobby.

Jack is survived by his wife, Ann; a daughter, Adelle Brown; two sons, Mark '77 and Lawrence; and seven grandchildren, who remember him for his caring nature, sense of humor, and incredible intellect. The class joins them in their great sense of loss.