James B. Preston
February 2, 1926 - June 4, 2004
As printed in the The
Eagle Bulletin, Fayetteville, NY
Dr. James B. Preston, 78, of Manlius, former chairman of the department of
physiology at the SUNY Upstate Medical Center at Syracuse, died of Leukemia
June 6, 2004 at the University Hospital of the Syracuse medical Center.
Dr. Preston was born Feb. 4, 1926, in Nelsonville, Ohio. He attended Ohio
Wesleyan University and obtained his M.D. from the University of Cincinnati
College of Medicine.
He spent the following two years in a combined internship-research
fellowship at the the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
He served in the Korean War first as a member of the Army Signal Corps
and as a medic stationed on the 38th Parallel.
He became an instructor in the department of physiology at the Upstate
Medical Center. Dr. Preston was appointed an assistant professor in the
department of physiology in 1956 and promoted to professor and chairman of
the department in 1960, at the age of 34. Dr. Preston stepped down as chair
in 1991, but remained an Emeritus Professor at the medical school.
Dr. Preston chaired or worked on many state and national committees
including the Research Foundation of the State University of New York, the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Physiological Society and
the National Board of Medical Examiners. Dr. Preston also played a major
role in the organization of the Winter Conference on brain research and at
various times served as director of its fellowship committee, conference
chair and director of its board of directors.
Dr. Preston was known as a devoted family man and is survived by his wife
of 57 years, Barbara; his sister, Anne Preston of Washington, D.C.; a son,
James B. Preston Jr. of Athens, Ga.; two daughters, Anne Preston Asher of
Huron, Ohio and Jeanne Preston Mitchell of Manlius and six grandchildren.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Dr. James B. Preston
Scholarship Fund at SUNY Upstate Medical School, c/o HSC Foundation, 750 E.
Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210.
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