John Boyer

1929 - 2023

John Thomas ("Jack") Boyer passed away peacefully at home on February 15, 2023.   Jack was born on October 13, 1929 in Newcastle, Indiana, the fifth child of Walter Howard Boyer and Ruby Allen Boyer. Ruby and Howard had lost their first-born son Billy to polio before Jack's birth, and from early childhood Jack declared his intention to become a physician and to cure disease. At Denison University, Jack excelled at academics, served as fraternity president, and starred as a football running back. In 1951 he entered Harvard Medical School.   At Harvard Jack met his bride-to-be, medical classmate Georgiana Sykes of Tucson, Arizona. They graduated together in 1955 then moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Jack studied Internal Medicine. His studies were interrupted by a call to US Army service in Korea. In 1958, Jack began fellowship training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia. While there, he acted in the role of submarine physician in the movie On The Beach. On return to Cleveland, Jack joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University.   In 1969, the growing Boyer family moved to Tucson, where Jack joined the faculty of the University of Arizona's new College of Medicine. During his subsequent academic practice, Jack launched three divisions—geriatrics, hematology and rheumatology—in the Department of Medicine, co-founded the Center on Aging, and was a founding member of the Arthritis Center. After formal retirement in 1993, Jack continued to volunteer in geriatrics, first seeing patients and later as a patient himself. He received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona Geriatrics Society. He enjoyed tennis, photography, bicycling and traveling throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the South Pacific.   Jack is survived by his wife Georgiana Boyer, daughters Leslie Boyer, Diane Boyer (Steve Hayden) and Connie Choza (Gabriel), son Quentin Boyer, and grandchildren Maxwell Hassen, Ailem Hassen, Juliana Choza and Carmen Choza. He was preceded in death by his son Jim Boyer, in 1999. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be directed to the Jim Boyer Memorial Scholarship or to the Arizona Center on Aging, via uafoundation.org. A memorial service is expected in late March. Arrangements by Avenidas Cremation & Burial.