John Trojanowski

1946 - 2022

John Trojanowski
December 17, 1946 - February 8, 2022
John Trojanowski, Emmy Award-winning World Renowned Doctor, Scientist, and Neuropathologist at the Forefront of Alzheimer Research.
Philadelphia, PA.
Dr. John Quinn Trojanowski MD, Ph.D. a physician, neuropathologist, professor, and scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who identified major toxic proteins affecting neurodegenerative diseases and developed models to match the discoveries, died February 8, 2022, he was 75.
This research was "phenomenal" since he combined pathology and biochemistry to figure out what goes wrong and why. His findings over the decades would change the knowledge of conditions for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Frontotemporal Dementia, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. His findings offered evidence that the different toxic proteins share a common biological mechanism, that they spread toxic proteins from cell to cell corrupting their normal counterpart as well as other toxins that may exist outside those associated with the diseases. His research is one the most referenced sources with more than 2200 citations from the worldwide research community. Dr. Trojanowski was passionate about science and driven and this "gentle giant of science at 6'4' shared his science and personal life with wife, Penn biochemist Dr. Virginia Lee. Their findings opened up new avenues of research in neurodegenerative diseases. The duo trained a multitude of scientists over their 45 years together, with many of the scientists crediting their success to what they learned in the Trojanowski/Lee research lab. He met his lifelong collaborator, Dr. Lee, in Boston, MA. They moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 1979 and have been there since then. Dr. Trojanowski created so many firsts at UPenn including a brain bank, the Alzheimer Disease Research Center, and a center to develop drugs to target toxic proteins. As well as the founder and director of ADRC, he was the director of the Institute of Aging at Penn and the director Of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Center. He was a 2009 recipient of an Emmy Award for a documentary on Alzheimer's Disease.
Born in Bridgeport, CT, December 17, 1946, to Maurice John Trojanowski and Margaret Quinn-Trojanowski, his maternal Irish grandparents date back to the 1850s in Bridgeport. John was a member of the well-known Trojanowski Real Estate family but his passion for science took him beyond Connecticut. As one of seven siblings, he grew up around the country and internationally from Guam Island in the Pacific to West Germany as a child in a military family of an officer and WW2 veteran in the USAF. Dr. Trojanowski was a 1965 graduate of Notre Dame HS in Fairfield, CT. He spent his college summers working as the boat tender Captain at the Fayerweather Yacht Club. John was an athletic standout in football and baseball. With his athletic ability, he was compared to his uncle Walter, a University of Connecticut record holder, scholarship winner and NFL draft pick. That was not to be when he was hurt and lost a kidney from a tackle on a pass reception in the Bullard Havens v. Notre Dame game in November 1964.
He returned to Notre Dame in 1975 as the graduating class's keynote speaker of which his brother David was a member. Ultimately, he obtained academic scholarships and went on to King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, graduating Magna Cum Laude. John did graduate studies at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands then returned to Boston to complete his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He received his medical and doctoral degrees from Tufts University. He is survived by his wife Virginia Lee; brothers David of New York City and Mark of Bridgeport, CT; sisters Attorney Helen Trojanowski- Mononen of Falmouth, MA; Janet Mayer of Waterbury, CT; Ann G. Trojanowski of Derby, CT; and 13 local nieces/nephews. He was predeceased by a brother, Richard B. Trojanowski. Dr. Lee has scheduled a memorial symposium on neurodegeneration diseases with his worldwide colleagues in the Smilow Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania on September 16, 2022 in Philadelphia.