Obituary of Dr. Harry G. Preuss

Dr. Harry G. Preuss III, MD, MACN, CNS, 88, of Fairfax Station VA met his maker and left this earth to be with his God on May 13^th. 

Dr. Preuss was born in 1934 in Binghamton, NY to Harry G. Preuss, Jr. and Mary Kumpon Preuss.  His brilliance was soon profoundly evident as Harry, the Valedictorian of his Binghamton High School graduating class, as well as a New York State Regents exam scholarship winner, graduated in three years from Cornell University.  He went on to receive his MD from Cornell Medical College, trained for three years in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, studied for two years as a fellow in renal physiology at Cornell University and spent two years in clinical and research training at Georgetown University Medical Center.  During his training years he was a special research fellow at the NIH. Following five years as an Assistant and Associate (tenured) Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where he became an established investigator of the American Heart Association, he returned to Georgetown Medical Center. For more than 52 years, until the day of his death, Dr. Preuss was working as a tenured Professor in four departments-Biochemistry, Physiology, Medicine and Pathology.

His bibliography includes over 280 peer-reviewed, original medical research papers, 270 general medical contributions (chapters, review articles, etc.), eight patents, and more than 270 abstracts and presentations. Dr. Preuss wrote, edited or co-edited fifteen books and three symposia.  In 1976, Dr. Preuss was elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation where he served as an advisory editor for numerous medical/nutritional journals. His previous government appointments included four years on the Advisory Council for the National Institute on Aging, two years on the Advisory Council for the Director of NIH for the National Institute of Aging, and two years on the Advisory Council for NIH’s Office of Alternative Medicine. He also served on a variety of peer research review committees for the NIH, the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Program of the NHLBI and NIH. Dr. Preuss was elected the ninth Master of the American College of Nutrition (ACN). He was a former chairman of two ACN councils–Cardiovascular/Aging and Dietary Supplements/Functional Foods. After a brief stint on the Board of Directors of the ACN, Dr. Preuss spent three years as secretary-treasurer and three consecutive years as vice president, president elect, and became president in 1998. In 2008 and 2010, he was twice reelected president of the ACN, the only president-elect to have held this office more than once. Dr. Preuss was a member of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH-USA) and also served as a member of the ANH’s Scientific and Medical collaboration group. Dr. Preuss wrote the nutrition section for the Encyclopedia Americana and was past president of the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists (CBNS) that awarded CNS certifications. He served as chairman of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Georgetown University that has reviewed all clinical protocols at the University’s Medical Center for over 20 years. Dr. Preuss was Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for NutraSpace.com. Dr. Preuss received the Harold Harper Lectureship Award (ACAM), William B. Peck, James Lind, and Bieber Awards for his research and activities in the medical and nutrition fields. Most of his research, both laboratory and clinical, centered on the use of dietary supplements to favorably influence or even prevent a variety of medical conditions including those related to obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disorders. His peers voted to award him the coveted Charles E. Ragus Award of the ACN for publishing the best research paper in 2006, and in 2010 he received ACN’s 2010 Award for outstanding senior investigator in nutrition. In 2014, he received three Jonathan Emord Awards for his research in the fields of Medicine, Nutrition, and Integrative Medicine and, the same year, received ACN’s Presidential Recognition Award. In addition, he was awarded, in 2019, the Albert Nelson Marquis Who's Who Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Preuss met the love of his life and his wife of 62 years, Veronica Coleman Preuss, while attending Cornell Medical College.  Harry was quick to say that all his success was achieved because of Bonnie and her unending love, support and true grit that empowered him to never settle and drove him to achieve greatness.   Dr. Preuss is the beloved father of four children: Mary Beth (William Carney), Jeffrey (Denise), Christopher (Donna), and Michael.  Dr. Preuss is also survived by seven grandchildren: Brendan, Christopher, Casey, Killian, Cameron, Hunter and Jackson.

Dr. Preuss loved his God, his country, his family and the NY Yankees.  A mass of resurrection celebrating and honoring Dr. Preuss will be held on June 22, 2023 at 11:00 am at St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church 10500 Zion Dr. Fairfax, VA 22032.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in honor of Dr. Preuss to Tunnel to Towers Foundation or the charity of your choice.