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Jacob Lemann
August 31, 1929 - July 30, 2007
Contributed by Dr
Eric Cohen
 Dr
Jacob Lemann died on July 30, 2007, after a short illness. He was 77. Jack’s
legacy is in his work, his writing, and his teaching.
At Boston University, then in Milwaukee, at the
Marquette University School of Medicine, he did studies of acid-base balance
that are still cited, 40 years later. This work naturally progressed to
extensive study of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D metabolism, all in
human subjects. Marquette changed its name to the Medical College of
Wisconsin, but Jack never wavered from his clear and careful approach to
experimentation.
In 1994, at Jack’s Festschrift, Dr Fredric Coe provided
an elegant synopsis of Jack’s many contributions to the understanding of
idiopathic hypercalciuria, and the role of calcitriol excess in this
condition. In the conclusion to his publication in the November 1994
supplement to the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Dr Coe
acknowledged Jack’s stimulus to his own work. He also pointed out how Jack’s
approach has its roots in the work of Fuller Albright. Those who worked with
Jack know this is true, because both were outstanding students of human
pathophysiology.
Jack’s 1976 paper in the Lancet is at first glance a
more practical contribution. It documents the linearity of progressive loss
of kidney function in subjects with chronic kidney disease. But any student
of that mechanism, be it by blood pressure, via glomerulus, or further along
the nephron, knows that a unifying explanation for progressive renal failure
must account for its linearity. No wonder this paper has been cited over 400
times.
Jack’s way of being extended beyond the lab to the
clinic. The same principles applied. An event or a condition required close
and accurate definition, then a rational approach to find its cause and
consequences. This made him the teacher and mentor that he was.
Jack leaves his wife, Mary, and three children. His
colleagues and students miss him, but they know that he lives on when they
are at their best.
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