Dr. William John Jasper Logan

William John Jasper Logan was born on October 12, 1943, in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Madge Sarah Jane Grier Logan and John Louie Logan. John Louie Logan was minister and founder of John Calvin Presbyterian Church, and Madge Logan was an elementary school teacher. Along with his younger siblings Mary and Juan, his family moved from Nashville to Marion, North Carolina, in 1949. John’s father, John Louie Logan, died later that year and the family moved to his mother’s birthplace, Belmont, North Carolina.

John went on to attend Reid High School where he graduated at the age of 16, and matriculated at Howard University from 1960 to 1964. In 1962 he was initiated into the Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., and participated in many academic and civic activities. Upon graduation in 1964 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army with a major in Chemistry. He excelled academically and was one of 12 elected to Phi Beta Kappa, regarded as the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an undergraduate. While at Howard he received an impressive list of honors and awards.

Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, he was accepted into the top Ph.D. programs for organic chemistry in the country. In the fall of 1964, he studied at Yale University for one year, after which he returned to Belmont. He then taught high school for one year, where he became the first African American instructor to teach in a predominately white school in Gaston County, NC. In 1966, he moved to Atlanta and worked in the chemistry lab at Grady Memorial Hospital. He then went to Fort McClellan for orientation into the U.S. Army Chemical Corps and was assigned to Fort Belvoir.

In 1969 he pursued his childhood dream of becoming a physician and enrolled in Howard University’s School of Medicine. He graduated in 1973 as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.. He received numerous awards for his scholastic excellence. Upon graduation, he assumed a residency in pathology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

After his residency he became Chief of Clinical Pathology and subsequently Chief of Anatomic Pathology at Walter Reed. While on active duty he earned a myriad of recognitions to include the Army Commendation Medal and Meritorious Service award, a federal military decoration amongst the highest recognition that a service person can receive.

He rapidly rose through the ranks and was released from active duty in 1977 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He continued his military career in the Army Reserves until 1990, and retired with the rank of Colonel after 23 remarkable years of active and reserve service. He then went on to work at Greater Southeast Community Hospital, with part time positions at various other hospitals in the region.

John’s hobbies included painting, taking pictures (especially pictures at family events, and pictures of flowers), and gardening. He was a sharp dresser, and used to have his young children help him pick out the perfect pocket scarf to match the perfect tie and the perfect suit to wear to work every day. John loved Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, Eva Cassidy, Bill Cosby & Richard Pryor, and he had a very large vinyl record collection through the 1990s. He liked to crack jokes, to be silly at times, and make other people laugh. He was also an organic intellectual, with an enormous curiosity about the natural world in particular. He loved information about scientific discoveries, outer space, medical advances, black history, politics & current events, rare animals, and amazing but true “factoids.” Later in life, he began to regularly share this information via meticulously curated emails to friends and family. He loved the Washington football team, and college basketball, which he’d watch on tv and sometimes also listen to on the radio at the same time. His favorite publications included The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Life Magazine, Mad Magazine, and National Geographic. His favorite “foods” included Coke and Pepsi, milk chocolate, and pig skins. Towards the end of his life, he became greatly enamored of prosciutto. He went through various struggles with physical and mental health - which he often diagnosed himself- and kept beating them back, one after another; until he was finally taken by complications from Alzheimer's. In some ways his mind remained remarkably sharp until the very end. He gave two presentations on pathology to the residents of his senior living facility in 2024 and 2025, including him showing them different parts of a full human skeleton. He followed the news voraciously. In his last year of life, he received regular visits from out of state from his children and grandchildren. His wife Shirley was constantly and faithfully by his side.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Shirley Wilson Logan; three children: Enid Logan Allen (Donald Allen), John Malcolm Logan (Youlanda Logan) and Monica Logan; four grandchildren: Chandler Logan, Jacob Logan Allen, Harper Logan and John Grayson Allen; two siblings: Mary Selden, Juan Logan (Jonell Logan); one brother-in-law, John Wilson (Elinor), and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends. John was a loving husband, father and grandfather. His family and friends will miss him dearly and remember him fondly.