John Q. Trojanowski, a renowned neuropathologist and director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, died of complications of chronic spinal cord injuries on Feb. 8 in Philadelphia. He was 75.
Dr. Trojanowski’s work uncovered the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Hired by the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, in 1991 he cofounded the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research there with his wife, Virginia M.Y. Lee, who continues as its director. Over the years, the couple were renters during the summers in Springs and Southampton.
In 1994, he coauthored a paper stating that tau proteins were “an integral component of Alzheimer paired helical filaments.” He was the first to implicate proteins in neurodegenerative disease, and his hypothesis is still well-supported today, according to The Scientist magazine.
John Quinn Trojanowski was born in Bridgeport, Conn., on Dec. 17, 1946, to Maurice Trojanowski, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, and the former Margaret Havrilla Quinn. Because his father was in the military, the family moved frequently around the United States and Germany. He attended military schools until 1961, when he enrolled at Aquinas College High School in Columbus, Ohio.
He entered King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in 1965. After two years, he transferred to the University of Vienna to pursue German studies before returning to King’s, where he received a bachelor’s degree in German in 1970. The same year he began his graduate studies at the Tufts University School of Medicine and its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
After spending a year studying neuroscience at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, he returned to Tufts, where, in 1976, he earned a Ph.D. and an M.D.
During his internship at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Trojanowski met Dr. Lee, who was doing postdoctoral research training at Boston Children’s Hospital. They were married in 1979 and were both hired by the University of Pennsylvania, where she is the John H. Ware 3rd Endowed Professor in Alzheimer’s Research.
Dr. Trojanowski rose through the ranks at the university, becoming tenured in 1986, director of medical pathology in 1989, and a full professor in 1990. He was also the director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke from 2007 to 2018. He won an Emmy Award in 2009 for short-documentary filmmaking.
In addition to his wife, Dr. Trojanowski is survived by five siblings, Helen Margaret Trojanowski of Falmouth, Mass., Janet Mayer of Waterbury, Conn., Ann G. Trojanowski of Derby Conn., Roman-David Trojanowski of East Hampton and New York City, and Marc P. Trojanowski of Bridgeport.
