Draft:Dr. Ian H. Porter

Porter, Ian Herbert MD ALBANY Dr. Ian H. Porter, of Albany, died on Monday, December 12, 2016, at the Hospice Inn at St. Peter's Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was born on November 14, 1929, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of Felix and Ingeborg (Grandjean) Porter. His parents met while students at Oxford University and moved to Kenya where his father was a forester. Dr. Porter, who spent his early childhood in Kenya, returned to Denmark to live with his maternal grandmother during World War II and to attend boarding school in Denmark. He later followed his grandfather and father to boarding school in England at Cheltenham (the school against which Rugby School played the first eponymous football game). After graduating from medical school at St. Thomas's in London, and doing graduate work there, Dr. Porter was recruited by Victor McKusick (known as "the father of medical genetics") to work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He was board certified in pediatrics and rheumatology. He moved to Albany to help set up the birth defects unit within the New York State Department of Health. Dr. Porter later joined Albany Medical Center where he spent the rest of his career in pediatrics and medical genetics, serving as Chief of Pediatrics and later as assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education, vice president of Medical Affairs and Medical Director. He traveled frequently with an accreditation team from the New York State Department of Education to countries that send medical school graduates to the United States for clinical medical education. He was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society as well as a member of the Pediatric Travel Club and P.E.D.S. (pediatric early developmental screening). Dr. Porter served on the board of the Albany Institute of History and Art for many years and especially enjoyed serving on the Collections and Acquisitions Committee. He was a long-time member of the Fort Orange Club and Schuyler Meadows Club. He excelled at sports, playing rugby football in school. He especially liked racquet sports including squash and tennis. He was honored to be asked to be a part of a book/ discussion group, organized by a teacher from Albany Academy, where the goal was to use literature as the basis for the exploration and discussion of ideas, history and philosophy. He and fellow scholar-athlete the late Jack Carter, M.D. continued the book group and included wives and partners in the dinner discussions, a tradition which continues to this day. Dr. Porter was a knowledgeable and avid gardener. His white garden at his townhouse on Jay Street in Albany was on the neighborhood garden tour several times. Survivors include his sons, Julian Harold Folke Porter and Robert Grandjean Porter; his former wife, Ingrid Kihlstedt Porter M.D.; his niece, Jessie Anderson of Perth, Australia