Science|Joseph Fraumeni, 93, Dies; Helped Discover Genetic Link to Cancer

Dr. Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr., who helped discover one of the first examples of a cancer linked to a human gene, paving the way for a field that has so far seen the discovery of more than 120 genes that predispose people to cancer, died on June 22 in McLean, Va. He was 93.

His death, at a skilled nursing facility, was confirmed by Holly Fraumeni, his niece.

Besides his pioneering research on hereditary links to cancer, Dr. Fraumeni did groundbreaking work in identifying environmental and lifestyle risks for cancer. For decades, he led the world’s top cancer epidemiology program, at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md.

“He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of epidemiology,” Dr. Norman E. Sharpless, a past director of the institute, told The Cancer Letter, a news site, after Dr. Fraumeni’s death.

Epidemiology is the study of patterns of disease within populations. In his office, Dr. Fraumeni hung an old New Yorker cover depicting birds on a rooftop, all but one facing forward. The backward-looking bird, he would say, is like an epidemiologist, who focuses on how past behavior and exposures influence current health.