John J. Rupp; Ojai Valley Doctor for 44 Years

John Jerome Rupp, who practiced medicine in the Ojai Valley for 44 years, died Sunday at his home in Ojai. He was 94.

He was born Sept. 19, 1906, in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Daniel Horatio Rupp and Elsie Wheeler Rupp. His father was a Harvard law graduate, an engineer, and a friend of William James, the philosopher. As a young boy, John Rupp remembered his father--who died when he was 9--reading to him from Plato’s “Republic.”

John Rupp was then raised by his mother on a goat farm in Colorado Springs. His mother was the daughter of Harriett and Jerome Wheeler, a silver mining magnate, who was founder and owner of the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colo., and a descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Rupp, who was Phi Beta Kappa, received a literature degree at USC. In 1933, he graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago and then went to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara for his residency. It was there that he met his future wife, Eleanor, who was a nurse at the hospital.

Rupp was a pathologist and internist and conducted cancer research with his colleagues, physicians Fritz Bischoff and Guillermo Lopez.

Ten days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Rupp was called to active duty in the Navy. He volunteered for sea duty and became the head of a hospital ward in San Diego. He saw action in the South Pacific and the Mediterranean, except from 1942 to 1943, when he headed the pathology and clinical laboratories of the Long Beach Naval Hospital.

Wanting to raise his children in an interesting place after the war, Rupp moved his family to Ojai, where there was a scarcity of physicians and where he was attracted to the teachings of theosophy.

In 1946, Rupp designed and built a clinic on East Matilija Street. He later added a laboratory, an operating room and X-ray room. He did his own lab work for many years.

He volunteered as the first medical director of St. Joseph’s Health and Retirement Center in Ojai from 1966 to 1986. Rupp and his wife devoted themselves to the educational needs of the community. He served on the board of the Happy Valley Foundation and Eleanor Rupp was the first woman to be elected to the Ojai Unified School Board, serving for more than 12 years.

In addition to being the first internist to practice in Ojai, he continued to make house calls until he retired in 1986 at 80. He would take calls at any time and was once called out while in the middle of playing the clarinet during a local production of “The Flying Dutchman.”

Family friend Dr. Alfred Bacharach said, “He brought an old world courtly charm to everything that he did in this valley, touching the lives of countless people.”

Rupp had a lifelong passion for music, poetry and art. He also became an exceptional photographer.

He is survived by four children, Marion Leeman, John Rupp, Stuart Rupp and Daniel Rupp, all of Ojai; three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Rupp was preceded in death by his wife.

A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. on Feb. 17 at St. Joseph’s Chapel, 2464 E. Ojai Ave., with Father Carroll G. Laubacher officiating. A reception will follow at Villa Giuseppe restaurant in Ojai.

Friends with remembrances are encouraged to write them down and send them to the Rupp Family, P.O. Box 353, Ojai, CA 93024 or e-mail them to abantu@aol.com.

Donations may be made in his name to either St. Joseph’s Health and Retirement Center, P.O. Box 760, Ojai, CA 93024 or to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, P.O. Box 1092, Ojai, CA 93024.