Neville Grant, M.D., a professor of clinical medicine for nearly 40 years, died Jan. 20, 2009, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., due to complications from recent surgery. He was 80.
Grant, professor emeritus of clinical medicine, taught at the School of Medicine and practiced medicine for 39 years in the Central West End with his brother, the late John M. Grant, M.D., at the Grant Medical Clinic, founded by their father, the late Samuel B. Grant, M.D. For several years, he served as a representative of part-time faculty members to the Executive Faculty of the School of Medicine. He retired in 1999.
Grant was a mentor and role model to many area physicians, including Garry Tobin, M.D., associate professor of medicine, who worked with Grant at the Grant Medical Clinic for 10 years.
“Neville was the consummate physician and gentleman,” Tobin said. “He epitomized the role of a clinical physician-scientist and teacher. Neville loved seeing and interacting with patients, and many patients considered him a part of their extended families, and he theirs. The Grant clinic was a special place to work and practice, due in a large part to the standards that Neville and his brother, Jack, set.”
A St. Louis native, Grant earned a bachelor’s degree in 1950 from Yale University and a medical degree from Columbia University in 1954. He completed an internship at Washington University and then became the first medical student to assist Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, M.D., at his hospital in Lambarene, French Equatorial Africa, now Gabon. Grant served in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps from 1955-57 before completing a residency at Yale University and a fellowship at Stanford University.
In honor of his retirement, Barnes-Jewish Hospital created the Neville Grant Award for Clinical Excellence.
After retirement, Grant and his wife, Diane, moved to Santa Fe, N.M. However, retirement did not suit him well, so he began seeing patients as a consultant to a private endocrinology practice. In 2007, Grant and his wife moved to Nashville to be closer to family. He was also a visiting professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Grant is survived by his wife, Diane, of Nashville; three daughters, Johanna Grant Nicholas, Ph.D., associate professor of audiology and communication sciences and research associate professor of otolaryngology at the WUSTL School of Medicine, Bevin Baetjer of Portsmouth, R.I., and Natasha Deane of Nashville; and six grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in St. Louis at a later date.