John Harold Edgcomb M.D.

Dr. John Harold Edgcomb died on Memorial Day, May 28, 2007 at Cabrini Hospice in New York City after a long period of illness. He was born in Ottawa, Illinois on August 15, 1922 to Dr. John Harold Edgcomb and Margaret Jans Edgcomb. He attended Ottawa Township High School, class of 1940, and went on to the University of Chicago to earn Bachelors and Medical degrees, graduating in 1946. He completed an internship and pathology residency at the University of Chicago, punctuated by serving in the army medical corps doing research on malaria. Following his residency, he joined the United States Public Health Service and worked at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington D.C. and at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. During his 15 years in the PHS, Dr. Edgcomb was sent to Israel, Vienna, Bonn, Paris, London, Copenhagen and Brussels as well as spending a year as an exchange scientist at the Cancer Institute in Moscow in 1960-66. In 1962-64 he recruited and led a medical research team in Accra, Ghana. After retiring from the Public Health Service in 1967, he worked at the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Panama where he met his wife Melida Bernal. Returning to the U.S. in 1973, he became head of the laboratory at Gouverneur Hospital in lower Manhattan, then left in 1977 to work as a staff pathologist in the Toxicology Department at Hoffman-LaRoche in Nutley, NJ. Dr. Edgcomb retired after suffering a stroke in 1991. Dr. Edgcomb published several scientific papers and enjoyed teaching. He was a lifelong devotee of fine music, especially opera, and of literature, poetry, good food and conversation. He was an inspiration to those around him because of his encyclopedic knowledge, wit, and wisdom, as well as his humility and engaging manner. He was preceded in death by his father John in 1951, mother Margaret in 1974, and first wife, Gabrielle in 1997. He is survived by his devoted wife Melida; children Julia Claire Edgcomb of Prunedale, California, John Simon Edgcomb, M.D. of Reno, Nevada (Mrs. Eileen), and David Bernal Edgcomb, M.D. of New York, N.Y (Dr. Mary Weathers); stepson Steven Schoenberg of Burbank, California (Mrs. Tony); grandchildren Gabriel (Mrs. July-Brook), Steven and Aaron; step-grandchildren Tony and Scott; great-grandchildren Will, Whitney, Sam, Josephine and Rylin, and beloved sister Jane Pritchard. A memorial service will be held a 1 p.m. Saturday, June 16, 2007 at Gladfelter Funeral Home with the Rev. Fr. Lourduraj Ignatius of St. Patrick's Catholic Church officiating. Visitation will be from 12 noon until time of services.