Henry Patterson Loomis


Henry Patterson Loomis was an American physician who served as president of the American Academy of Medicine.

Early life

Loomis was born in Manhattan on April 29, 1859. He was a son of Sarah Jane Loomis and Dr. Alfred Lebbeus Loomis, a physician who served as president of the Association of American Physicians. After the death of his mother in 1880, his father remarried to Anna Maria Prince. His sister, Adeline E. Loomis, later married their stepbrother John Dyneley Prince in 1889.
He attended Princeton University, graduating in 1880. He received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine in 1883, and studied at Heidelberg, Berlin and Vienna before returning to the U.S. in 1887.

Career

He was a leading expert on heart and lung diseases and was a contributor to several medical journals and the author of a number of treatises on diseases. Loomis was professor of pathology at New York University from 1887 to 1895, visiting physician at the New York Hospital in 1896, and consulting pathologist of the New York Board of Health in 1897. He was also a faculty member of Cornell University where he was a professor of therapeutics and clinical medicine.

Personal life

On February 8, 1887, Loomis was married to Julia Josephine Stimson. Julia was a sister of Dr. Lewis Atterbury Stimson, a prominent surgeon. Together, they were the parents of three children:
In the summer of 1907, Loomis's wife filed suit for divorce, claiming that Emilie Grigsby had a relationship with Loomis. The family were snubbed socially as a result, since a divorce was regarded as a shameful event.
He died of pneumonia on December 22, 1907 at his home in Manhattan before the divorce went through.

Descendants

Through his son Alfred, he was posthumously a grandfather of Alfred Lee Loomis Jr., William Farnsworth Loomis, and Henry Loomis.