Dr. Joseph "Mike" Autry

It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved son and brother, Dr. Joseph Michael "Mike" Autry PHD who left this world on September 12, 2025 after a long and hard illness at the early age of 57. He was preceded in death by his father Joseph Autry, Aunt Judy and Uncle Arden Warkentien, grandparents, cousins, other family members and dear friends.

Visitation will be held on Monday Sept 22 at Kish Funeral Home, 10000 Calumet Ave., Munster Indiana from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a prayer service at 3:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial offered by Reverend Michael Yadron will be on Tuesday Sept 23 at St. Thomas More Church in Munster Indiana.

Michael had a brilliant mind and a love for science. He attended Munster schools and graduated from Munster High School in 1987, where he was an athlete swimmer for 4 years. He was named captain of the swim team his senior year of which he was so proud, and also named a National Scholar Winner. After high school Mike attended the University of Notre Dame where he also swam his freshman year. He graduated from N/D in 1991 with a degree in medical Bio/Physics. He applied to the Indiana School of Medicine at IUPUI in Indianapolis to work on his PhD and was accepted. He was mentored by Dr. Larry Jones in his lab in Indianapolis and received his PhD in 1998 for his research of the Baculovirus Expression System to Investigate Phospholamban Regulation of the Cardiac Calcium Pump. He them was accepted at the University of Minnesota to continue his research as a post doctorate under the guidance of Dr. David Thomas and work in his lab. After his post Doc. was completed, Mike stayed on with Dr. Thomas to continue his research that he loved so much. In 1994 Mike was honored from the American Heart Association Indiana Affiliate the Paul E. Nicoll award for the highest pre-doctoral fellowship merit score AHA-1A research.

Michael was a light in our lives and his absence leaves an irreplaceable void. He will be missed by not only by his family but also all the friends that Mike had made over the years. Mike had an incredible spirit that radiated kindness, humor, warmth and friendship. He not only had a brilliant mind and a love of science that would be hard to match, he also had a passion and a love of music thru which he made many friends over the years in Minnesota and attended many concerts with them. Mike also learned to play the guitar. During his younger years in Minnesota Mike became a Marathon runner, joined the masters swim and in summer would swim in some of the many lakes of Minnesota in competition.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made in Mike's to the American Heart Association or to the family for research of their choice.

https://www.heart.org/en/why-give