John Mosby Grant ’50

Jack Grant died at his home in St. Louis on Apr. 1, 1997, after a bout with cancer. He was 70.

After serving in the Navy from 1945-46, Jack came to Princeton, where he was in the Glee Club, played 150-lb. football, and was a member of Sigma Xi and Colonial Club.

He received his MD from Washington U. School of Medicine in 1953 and went to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., where he studied and taught psychosomatic medicine. Returning to St. Louis in 1959, he became associated with the Grant Medical Clinic, which was organized by his father in 1938. Jack was a member of the third generation of his family to practice medicine in St. Louis.

Jack was a bon vivant and a gracious host, beloved by his patients, who appreciated his willingness to listen and to commiserate. He became fascinated by mathematical physics and the possibility of using mathematics in the study of biology and medicine and developed what he called "hierarchy algebra." A group of his colleagues organized his work and published from it "A Hierarchical Model of Living Systems: A Unifying Concept in Biopsychosocial Medicine."

A neighbor and longtime friend said of Jack that ". . . he had a real sense of God's presence that allowed him to walk through turmoil and bring calm."

Jack is survived by his mother, Natalie, his wife, Dionne, a daughter, Natalie, and two brothers, Neville and Samuel, to whom the Class of '50 sends its deepest sympathies.

The Class of 1950