Samuel J. Fomon, MD: Champion of Growth1–3

In Memory Samuel J. Fomon, MD, 84, Professor Emeritus of the University of Iowa Department Of Pediatrics, died December 18, 2007. He was born March 9, 1923 in Chicago, IL, the son of Drs. Samuel and Isabel (Sherman) Fomon. Sam graduated with honors in 1945 from Harvard College and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. Dr. Fomon was a resident in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a research fellow at the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati. He moved to the University of Iowa, College of Medicine in Iowa City in 1954 where he advanced from Assistant Professor to Professor in Pediatrics. He was the Director of the Infant Metabolic Unit from 1954 to 1993, which evolved into the Division of Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics in 1961. Fomon became the Director of the University of Iowa Graduate Program in Nutrition in 1980. In 1993, he became Professor Emeritus.