Gregory Hayes Tignor, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, passed away peacefully at home on May 9, 2024. Born in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 1938, he was the youngest of three sons of two inspiring educators, Madison W. Tignor and Ethel P. Tignor. He grew up as an attendee of Calvary Episcopal Church, also in Washington, D.C.

After attending Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., he attended Yale College, and later received his Doctor of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, specializing in exotic virus diseases. He returned to Yale in1969, as a faculty member in the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit in the Department of Epidemiology where he focused on viruses that cause encephalitis in humans, the best known being rabies. He was outstanding and inspirational in the classroom, did extensive research—which included much international travel—and published widely.

After retirement in 2000, he served as a consultant to the State Department’s Agency for International Development and served as an assistant editor of ProMed, which focuses on emerging infectious diseases. Many academics in arts and sciences in the area will recall his outstandingly creative years as president of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. After his term, he was honored with an award for his outstanding and devoted service. Also, for many years, he was an active and dedicated fellow of the Koerner Center for Emeritus Faculty at Yale.

Preceding Gregory in death were his parents and his two brothers—Donald M. Tignor and Sterling P. Tignor, as well as one child, Marcia Denise Tignor. He leaves to cherish loving memories his wife Eleanor Q. Tignor, their son Jeffrey H. Tignor, Jeffrey’s wife Kemi, his grandson Henry, several nieces and nephews, their families, his wife’s family members, and a host of friends.

A graveside service to celebrate Dr. Tignor’s life and legacy will be held Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 10:30 A.M. at Whitneyville Cemetery, 1266 Whitney Ave. (entrance on Treadwell St.), Hamden, CT. Viewing and visitation will be held Friday, May 17, 2024, from 5:00-7:00 P.M. and Saturday, May 18, 2024, from 8:00-9:30 A.M. at Curvin K. Council Funeral Home, 128 Dwight Street, New Haven, CT.