John Rutledge Boring, Iii

Dr. John R. Boring III passed away in his sleep on Sunday January 10, 2020, at his home in Decatur, Georgia after spending an enjoyable Saturday with his children. He was 90 years old, and lived a long, full, and joyous life.

John was born on July 7, 1930 in Gainesville, Florida to Elizabeth and John R. Boring Jr. He was the first of five children, preceding Gaye, Michael, Diana, and Carol. Growing up, John “Lefty” Boring was a stellar athlete and stand-out student, earning him the “Best All Around” award at Fletcher High School in Jacksonville, Florida. An especially talented baseball pitcher, “Lefty” attended Newberry College in South Carolina on a sports scholarship, where he played baseball and football for two years before transferring to the University of Florida (UF) to focus on academics.

After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Microbiology, John remained at UF to earn a Master’s Degree in Microbiology in 1954. In 1955 John entered the U.S. Public Health Service, stationed at the CDC in Atlanta with the Epidemic Intelligence Service. As a senior scientist with expertise in microbiology, John traveled the country responding to epidemiological outbreaks of diseases like salmonella, shigella, and typhoid in Utah, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. John subsequently returned to the University of Florida to obtain the university’s first ever Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1961. During this time, he met and married Jacqueline Cresse. They had two children, Anita and Christopher; Christopher later had a son, Kyle, John’s only grandchild. John and Jacqueline later divorced in 1977.

John’s public health work took him to Ottawa, Canada in 1961 for a post-doctoral fellowship with the National Research Council of Canada, and thereafter back to Atlanta to work in epidemiology at the CDC. At the end of 1966 John was recruited for a position as an assistant professor at the Emory School of Medicine, where he found his truest calling and lifelong professional purpose—teaching. Eventually he became a full professor of epidemiology, a relatively new science at the time. John also served as the Chairman of the Medical School Curriculum Committee and of the Infectious Diseases Committee for Grady Hospital. At Grady Hospital John experienced what he described as the greatest fortune of his life when he met Cathy Chase while working in one of the hospital labs. After one interaction, John knew he had met his life partner in Cathy. They married in 1978. John and Cathy had countless adventures together, from hiking steep Mt. Leconte to driving cross-country to the Grand Canyon in a VW Bug.

They had three children, Michael, Samuel, and Annie. John and Cathy were married for nearly forty years and cultivated a household filled with engaging conversation, laughter, and warmth. After years as a professor and Curriculum Chair at the School of Medicine, John and a group of colleagues founded Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, where he served as the first Epidemiology Department Chair. At Rollins, John brought in acclaimed faculty, developed new curriculum and programs, and taught generations of doctors and public health students the value of evidence-based medicine. John loved teaching, and his students and coworkers loved him in return.

He was awarded Rollins’ teacher of the year award five times, the Thomas F. Sellers Jr. M.D. Award, and the Thomas Jefferson Award in 1996, Emory’s highest faculty honor. After over 46 years teaching at Emory, John retired in 2012 as a professor emeritus, though he returned to give guest lectures in the years that followed. In 2020 the epidemiology department named its annual infectious disease grand rounds lecture in his honor. John enjoyed his retirement by vacationing in Florida with Cathy, listening to Mozart, watching Westerns, and passing happy hours with his children, siblings, and friends.

His beloved Cathy passed away in 2017. John was a kind and generous man. Having grown up with very little, he endeavored to take care of those he loved in every possible way. As his many professional accomplishments evidence, he was both brilliant and hardworking. He was an ardent advocate for science, and aspired to improve medical education through his teaching. John explained that “learning and education meant everything to me. I was interested in giving what I thought I understood to my children and to others, especially to students.” His legacy ripples outward from the generations of students he taught. More than anything else, though, John was passionate about life and all that he loved—Cathy, his children and siblings, his friends, teaching, public health, evidence-based science, U.S. history, progressive politics, UF football, and Braves baseball.

He loved deeply and was loved deeply by all those in his orbit, every one of whom was bettered by knowing him. He will be truly missed. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Carter Center. Plans for a memorial service will be shared at a future date.