WARREN – John Burton Storer, 82, died Nov. 26, 2005, at his home in Warren following a brief illness. He was born Oct. 16, 1923, in Rockland, the son of Earl Edward Storer and Lydia Tracy Storer. John attended local Rockland schools and was president of his 1942 class, graduating as valedictorian. During high school he was very active in athletics, participating in football, hockey, baseball and track. He was also active in student government, acting as class president all four years. While still an undergraduate at Rockland High School, John enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he earned his bachelor of science in biology in 1944 and his MD in 1947. In 1945, he married his high school sweetheart, Margaret “Jean” Calderwood, of Rockport and later, Rockland. John interned at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, in Cooperstown, N.Y. He then joined the department of pathology at the University of Chicago as a postdoctoral fellow. It was in Chicago that he made the decision to devote his career to research. In 1950, he joined the staff and became leader of the radiobiology section of Los Alamos, N.M. Scientific Laboratory. His research there continued until 1958, broken only by service to the U.S. Army Medical Corps as captain, stationed in Fort Knox, Ky. He continued his research as senior staff scientist at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor until 1967 and as leader of the biology division of Oak Ridge, Tenn. National Laboratory, from which he retired in 1986. Sandwiched between these, John served as deputy director of the division of biology and medicine for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C. Dr. John Storer received the Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award in 1968 for “meritorious contributions to the development, use, and control of atomic energy”, signed by then President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1983, he was awarded by the University of Chicago Medical Alumni their Distinguished Scientific Service medal. Also in 1983, in recognizing Dr. Storer as a corporate fellow by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he was cited as being “recognized internationally for his research on late effects of radiation, radiation carcinogenesis, aging and genetic determinants of life-span and radiation sensitivity. His expertise has led to invitations to chair or serve on numerous committees which lay the groundwork for policy decisions at the national and international level.” In 1986, upon his retirement, John spent summers at his cottage on South Pond, in Warren, with his wife, Jean. The couple wintered in their Watts Bar Lake home in Rockwood, Tenn. While in Maine, John spent many hours on woodworking projects for his home and his children and on day trips and picnics with his wife. In 2001, he and his wife built their year-round dwelling on the old Storer homestead, where John had spent many satisfying summers in his youth with “Gramp” and his horse Tim. He was predeceased two years ago by the love of his life, his wife, Jean; and earlier by his sister, Frances Storer; and brothers, Edward Storer MD, and Alfred Storer. John is survived by three sons, Michael and his wife, Madeleine, of Warren, Stephen and his companion, Paula Marie, of Bar Harbor and Christopher of Warren and his fiance, Marjorie Beam, of Bar Harbor; one daughter, Katharine Storer of Bangor; three grandchildren, John Burton Storer II, Shea Storer and his wife, Elisha and Anissa McNeece; two great-grandchildren, Hayley and Hadley; as well as one cousin, Bertram Snow of Rockland. A brief service will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at Burpee, Carpenter, and Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock St., Rockland. The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth D. Mauro will officiate. Interment will follow at Sea View Cemetery in Rockport. In lieu of flowers, John requested contributions be sent to the Rockland Salvation Army, P.O. Box 586, Rockland, ME 04841.
JOHN BURTON STORER MD
