James Wynn Jacobs, M.D.

James Wynn Jacobs, M.D.

James Wynn Jacobs, a physician, ophthalmic surgeon, Army veteran, husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully on September 11, 2026. He was 92.

Wynn was born March 20, 1934, in Hollywood, Florida, to Bessie Mae Ellenburg Jacobs and Vallie Martin Jacobs. His family later moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he attended Phillips High School.

He went on to Harvard College, graduating cum laude in 1956 with a concentration in History and Literature. He lived in Winthrop House and took an active part in university and religious life, participating in the Harvard Band and Christian Fellowship and serving as vice president of the Collegiate Club at Park Street Church in Boston.

Upon graduation, Wynn was awarded the James Bryant Conant–Class of 1928 Scholarship, a Harvard distinction that enabled him to spend the 1956–57 academic year studying in Germany. The experience was part of a lifelong intellectual curiosity that extended well beyond medicine. Decades later, he wrote of the profound influence of Albert Schweitzer, whose ideas he first encountered during his Harvard years, and of his continuing interest in ethics, religion, and Buddhism.

Wynn subsequently pursued medicine at the University of Chicago, where he earned his M.D. in 1965. He specialized in ophthalmology and served for eight years in the United States Army, attaining the rank of Captain. His medical training included ophthalmology at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Colorado.

He later undertook advanced training in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery. In 1975, he completed a fellowship in the specialty under Dr. Orkan G. Stasior in Albany, New York, an important step in the development of his career as an eye surgeon.

Wynn practiced ophthalmology for many years, including in Boulder, Colorado; Pulaski, Virginia; and Guntersville, Alabama. Medicine was more than an occupation to him. Looking back on his life in a Harvard class report, he described ophthalmology as the “Queen of Specialties” and reflected that his youthful ambition of “saving souls” had evolved into saving vision, work that brought him great personal satisfaction and tangible benefit to others.

Family was an enduring source of happiness throughout Wynn’s life. He took great pride in his children and stepchildren and particular joy in his grandchildren. He was grateful for the love of his family and, in later reflections on his life, counted that love among his greatest blessings.

Throughout his life, Wynn retained the independence of mind that had characterized his Harvard years. He later wrote that Harvard’s encouragement of the individual’s right to “freely inquire and express conclusions without intimidation” had been priceless to him. A bust of Albert Schweitzer sat on his desk as a reminder of the ethical ideas he had first encountered as a young man.

Wynn’s life joined scholarship, military service, medicine, intellectual curiosity, and devotion to family. Through a long career devoted to preserving sight, he found the vocation that he believed allowed him to make a direct and lasting difference in the lives of others.

He will be remembered by his family, friends, colleagues, patients, and all those whose lives were touched by his care, curiosity, and commitment to helping others.