John Arthur Luetscher Jr. ’33

John died Jan. 30, 2005, in Sacramento, Calif.

After graduating from Princeton in 1933 with a bachelor's in chemistry, John earned a medical degree in 1937 from Johns Hopkins, where his father had graduated in 1899. He received research awards from many medical associations, and was credited with the discovery of aldosterone, a hormone released by the adrenal glands. He was on the Stanford Medical School faculty from 1948-90, when he retired as professor of medicine emeritus. He continued medical research with grants from NIH at Stanford until the research office was damaged beyond repair by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

His research centered on hypertension. John was the chief of endocrinology at Stanford for more than 25 years.

John's wife, Genevieve, preceded him in death in 1996. He is survived by two sons, a daughter-in-law, two granddaughters, and three great-grandchildren.

The Class of 1933