John B. Stanbury (May 15, 1915–July 6, 2015)

Abstract

John B. Stanbury died in his sleep on July 6, 2015, in Westwood, MA, seven weeks after his 100th birthday. He was born in Clinton, NC, and went to college at Duke and medical school at Harvard. He married Jean Cook in January 1945 while in the Navy, in which he served during World War II, and raised a family of five in Chestnut Hill, MA. He is survived by Jean, his wife of 70 years, four children ( John Jr, Martha, Sarah Stanbury Smith, and David), nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, and was pre-deceased by his youngest daughter, Pamela. Truly both a southern gentleman and a Boston Brahman, John led by discussion and example, and avoided arguments and conflicts. Above all, he loved a family gathering, especially on Isle au Haut, ME. He was an avid tennis player, beekeeper, and gardener.John became chief resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and his admiration for Fuller Albright influenced his choice for endocrinology. He commenced his own career in medical practice, teaching, and endocrine research when he became Chief of the Thyroid Unit at the MGH in 1949. Teaching was focused in the Thyroid Clinic where trainees and older staff members, including John, saw patients each day. But the main teaching event was the clinic held each Tuesday afternoon, at which several patients were presented in person, and then examined by each of the attendings. Often visitors from clinics around the world were present as well. The discussions that followed by members of medicine, surgery, pathology, and radiology departments were sharp, patient-focused, full of pearls, and provided all present with a living textbook of clinical practice. This model has been emulated in many teaching institutions around the country.The research environment in the Thyroid Unit was strong at this time, with Jacob Lerman studying immunity to thyroglobulin, Farah Maloof investigating the metabolism of thioureas, and a partnership between Karl Compton, Robley Evans, and Arthur Roberts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Saul Hertz, James Howard Means, and Earle Chapman at MGH using the just developed tool of radioactive isotopes of iodine for studying the metabolism of iodine in the thyroid gland. Studies on iodine metabolism in animals were quickly followed by investigations in man, and the first treatment of Graves' disease in 1941. These techniques were soon extended by Rulon Rawson for use in thyroid cancer. The idea of studying endemic goiter using this new technology led John