John Leonora

John Leonora
(January 30, 1928-February 17, 2006)

John Leonora, the son of Joseph Leonora (March 14, 1883-November 20, 1942) and Carmela Folise Leonora (April 29, 1888-June 20, 1965), was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin soon after his parents arrived as immigrants from Sicily. They had left their eldest daughter in the Sicilian province of Enna where she had already grown to adulthood, married and had children. Their second daughter had tragically died of the flu in Sicily near the end of World War I.

Upon the death of his father in 1942, John Leonora’s mother found employment as a hand stitcher in an Italian shoe factory. John became an errand boy for various businesses throughout Milwaukee. At the same time he excelled in school and became proficient with the piano, accompanying and playing in jazz combos. He was an active member of the Italian club at Lincoln High School. Because of excellent grades he was awarded a one-year scholarship at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.

Upon receiving his B.S. degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI he took an interim position as a laboratory assistant in chemistry and obtained teaching credentials at what is now Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI. There he met Johanna Mae Zwemer, who was working toward a secretarial degree. They later married in 1952. Meanwhile Leonora had returned to Madison and the University of Wisconsin. There he and his wife lived while he completed his PhD, obtained a federal fellowship and embarked on his career as an endocrinologist.

For more than four decades, Dr. Leonora was active in his chosen field of medical physiology. He not only mentored numerous graduate students, but provided leadership for research conducted in his own laboratory. In his research he demonstrated surgical skills on animals as diverse as a 200 pound pig or a mouse weighing only a few ounces. He also delighted in teaching. His lectures were remembered by his students for their clarity and quiet humor.

John was profoundly dedicated to his family—his wife, Johanna, daughters Carmela and Andrea, and three lovely grandchildren. In his leisure time he delighted in the quietude of his country home. He spent hours working in the yard and cooking in the kitchen. He was justifiably famous for his homemade pizza, pasta sauce, and biscotti.

Dr. Leonora’s compassion, his career and his contributions will never be forgotten. He literally opened the portal to a new, a dynamic and an interactive view of the brain’s function in disease, in health and in life itself.

Education
1949 B.S. in Zoology and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

1954 M.S. in Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

1957 Ph.D. in Endocrinology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Title of Dissertation: Separation and Purification of Follicle Stimulating and Luteinizing Hormone from Ovine Pituitary Glands

1957-59	NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Academic Appointments
1952-1957: Research Assistant, Department of Zoology and Endocrinology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

1959-1963: Instructor, Department of Medicine, College of Medical Evangelists, Los Angeles, CA

1963-1968: Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA

1968-1970:Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Loma Linda University

1970-2002: Professor and Co-Chairman, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Loma Linda University --Chazann 03:12, 5 March 2008 (UTC)