In Memoriam John C. Moser, MD

March 2, 1946-April 19, 2023

by D. Michael Baxter, MD

It was hard to ignore John Moser. I know because I tried a few times. As an active member and Section Chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Reading Hospital for many years, John attended innumerable medical conferences and invariably peppered the guest speaker with pointed and difficult questions. John was also a Past President of the Berks County Medical Society, leading many discussions with his unique sense of humor and irreverent point of view. And invariably with his faithful chocolate Lab, “Huck,” at his side.

Dr. John Moser was born in Phoenixville and grew up in Spring City, the second child of Dr. Christian and Edith Moser. By all accounts he was an outstanding student and athlete. He graduated from Bucknell University in 1968 and began his first career as a teacher with the Devereux Foundation, a nonprofit behavioral health organization that serves children and young adults with developmental disabilities, emotional, and behavioral disorders. He would continue this relationship later as a consulting physician for over 40 years. In 1975 he made a career change and entered Hahnemann Medical College, following in his father’s footsteps. He graduated in 1979 and then joined the Family Medicine Residency Program at Reading Hospital, completing his training in 1982.

John began his medical practice in Morgantown soon after his residency training and became the small-town Family Doctor for that area for nearly 40 years. He took great pride in caring for the patients of the tri-county area of Berks, Chester, and Lancaster counties and enjoyed showing the buggy hitching post in front of his office to any inquisitive visitor. He was clearly a fixture in that community, caring for several generations of patients, as well as training numerous residents, medical and nurse practitioner students over the years. Each of them received not only an excellent clinical experience but also a dose of John’s unique view of medical practice and an encompassing life philosophy.

John married Mary Agnes “Aggie”” Benke in 1970 and together they raised three exceptional children, Christian, Damian, and Autumn, in their house in the woods in Chester County. Few local experiences were comparable to their annual Labor Day clam roast. My own small kids, at the time, especially loved John’s 1966 Volkswagen camper van which appeared straight out of Woodstock. John’s other great passion was his sailing crew from Reading Hospital who sailed and partied on the Chesapeake for many years, surprisingly without any major catastrophes.

John and Aggie divorced in 2012 and John later wed Amy Smith, a nurse from Devereux; however, that marriage was short-lived. Certainly, John experienced the ups and downs of life perhaps more so than many of us. And yet he always preserved his unique sense of humor, his sharp intellect, and his inquisitive medical mind. When I last visited him a few months ago, a New England Journal of Medicine lay on his table, and he engaged me in a discussion of the lead article. But that was John—inquisitive, challenging, and a dear friend to the very end.