Dr. John Keith Inman, 92, medical researcher and a laboratory head at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda for 40 years, died Feb. 25 at Friends House Retirement Community in Sandy Spring after a longtime illness from Parkinson’s Disease.
Dr. Inman, known as Jack to his many friends and family, had lived in Bethesda before moving to his Sandy Spring residence in 2020. During his long and successful tenure at NIH, from 1965 until 2005, he served in the Laboratory of Immunology as Chief of its Bioorganic Chemistry Section and was a senior investigator.
In 1978, he received the NIH Director’s Award for his studies in affinity chromatography and multispecific properties of antibodies. Dr. Inman authored or coauthored 130 publications and received five patents.
His distinguished career began in 1956 at the Michigan Department of Health where he directed its biochemistry division and led a research program in blood derivatives for the American Red Cross. He directed a division of the Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation from 1960 to 1963, then returned to basic research on a USPHS postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1963 until 1965 in the Department of Biophysics before moving to the NIH in Bethesda.
He is recognized for his work in the areas of bioconjugate chemistry, affinity chromatography, antibody specificity, and design and synthesis of small molecule drugs to treat and prevent HIV infection. Dr. Inman’s colleagues remember him as a warm, enthusiastic friend and mentor who was always eager to discuss scientific research.
He graduated in 1950 from the California Institute of Technology and was awarded a doctorate degree in 1956 from Harvard University in its Division of Medical Sciences. His field was the study of the purification of blood plasma proteins. While at Caltech, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Linus Pauling, a family friend who earlier had encouraged his scientific work and interest as a young teenager.
John Keith Inman was born in St. Louis, MO, to Chelsea Inman and Dorothy Keith Inman, and grew up in the suburb of Clayton. He married Jeanne Jaques of Massachusetts in 1954, who was a lab assistant at Harvard at the time.
Jack was a cheerful, loving family member, and friend to all. He was an avid reader of scientific, medical, and political news, and would bend the ear of anyone nearby to discuss the latest politics. He enjoyed amateur astronomy, playing the piano, puns and tongue-twisters, bird watching, and summer vacations with his family that included camping and beach strolling.
In addition to his wife of 66 years, Jeanne Jaques Inman of Friends House, he is survived by his children, Nancy Inman Villadsen of Clarksburg, Louise Inman Capon of Bethesda, and Keith Griscom Inman of Medford, Mass.; nine grandchildren, Juliet, Tom, Jackie, Phil, Andrew, Rya, Tarik, William, and Noah; two great-grandchildren, Robbie and Bridget; and the children of his beloved late sister Petty, Noni, Lisa and Phillip. . . . He will be sorely missed by all.
Contributions in John Inman’s memory can be made to the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area (PFNCA), 8830 Cameron St., Suite 201, Silver Spring, MD 20910; https://parkinsonfoundation.org/
A virtual Quaker meeting to celebrate the life of John Inman will be held under the care of Bethesda Friends Meeting on Saturday April 10 at 3:00 PM Eastern. To get the Zoom link please contact Ross Capon at [email protected] or another family member.
