Dr. John A. Balint

Dr. John A. Balint of Slingerlands, NY passed away on December 16, 2016. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1925, he was the only child of Michael and Alice Balint. He is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Jean; their two children Peter Balint and his wife Judy and Jane Ramsey and her husband Kenneth; two grandchildren Simon Balint and his wife Elise and Rachael Ricks; and three greatgrandchildren Sawyer and Hanieka Balint and Mathias Fraser. He is also survived by two cousins who were like siblings Judith Dupont in France and Gabriel Barton in England and his step-sister Barbara Clark also in England. Dr. Balint moved with his parents to England in 1939 but lost his mother only 7 months later just before World War II broke out. He attended Abbotsholme, a British boarding school and then Cambridge University for his medical degree, where he met his wife Jean who was also studying medicine. They graduated in 1948 and married in 1949. From 1950-1952, Dr. Balint served as a medical officer in the Royal Air Force. He then was a Registrar at the Central Middlesex Hospital, learning gastroenterology from Sir Francis Avery Jones. He moved to the United States in 1958 and completed a fellowship in Hepatology with Dr. Leon Schiff in Cincinnati and then Lipid Biochemistry with Dr. Albert Mendeloff at Johns Hopkins. From 1960 to 1963, he was a faculty member in the newly established division of Gastroenterology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. In 1963, he was recruited to establish the Gastroenterology Division at Albany Medical College which was the beginning of a more than 50-year career there. He served for 18 years as chief of Gastroenterology, and then was Chairman of the Department of Medicine for 8 years. In 1993, Dr. Balint undertook a fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago to undertake a fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics. The following year, he established the Center for Medical Ethics at Albany Medical Center and served as its director until 2005. This program is now one of the largest on-line programs in the country and was the first to grant a Ph.D. in Ethics. Throughout his career he was a devoted physician and teacher in addition to being an NIH-funded researcher. He had an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of others whether the patients he cared for and about or the next generation of doctors, scientists, and other healthcare professionals. The successes of those he trained was a source of great pride for him. Throughout his long and distinguished career, he received many awards, these included Physician of the Year from the Capital District chapter of the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis, Laureate award of the New York Upstate chapter of the American College of Physicians, Alden March Award for Public Service to Healthcare, honorary doctorate from Albany Medical College, Academic Laureate of the University of Albany Foundation, and a Lifetime Achievement award from the Capital District Senior Issues Forum. He was a fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and American College of Physicians. He was a very generous man, giving both time and financial support to many causes. A much-loved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, doctor, teacher, and friend, he will be greatly missed. Please join his family in a celebration of his life; there will be visitation from 5 to 7 pm on Tuesday December 20th followed immediately by a memorial at Applebee Funeral Home in Delmar, NY In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the charity of your choice in his honor.