1. April 2, 1944–September 21, 2016
JulianC. Mosley, M.D.
Memorial contributions would be appreciated to:
American Cancer Society
4207 Lindell Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63108
(314) 286-8167
Julian C. Mosley, M.D.
April 2, 1944 - September 21, 2016
Memorial Service
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Washington University — Graham Chapel
St. Louis, Missouri
2. He made inroads in both his community education and academic recruit-
ment efforts. But despite his success, Dr. Ross said that Dr. Mosley re-
mained “a very unassuming person.”
“He didn’t always talk about the doors he opened,” Dr. Ross said. “He gave
lots of homage to those who came before. He was well respected by the
academic community as well as the community in general.”
A Legacy of Benevolence
Among Dr. Mosley numerous affiliations were the St. Louis Medical Society,
the Mound City Medical Society, the NAACP and Eta Boulé, a professional
men’s organization. For more than three decades, he was a staunch sup-
porter of the St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America and the Ameri-
can Cancer Society; in 1982, he founded the organization’s North Metro-
politan unit. Beginning in 2003, Dr. Mosley was chief of surgery and an
instructor for the old Forest Park Hospital.
A fair amount of his spare time was spent watching St. Louis sports teams
and attending track and field meets, particularly the Drake Relays at Drake
University in Iowa.
Dr. Mosley, who had lived in the Central West End for many years, never
forgot his roots. He asked that his remains be scattered in the Mississippi
to show how his life spanned the two sides of the River – and to show his
love of both.
He was married for 13 years to the former Sheila
Stern (later Stix, now Bader), whom he met while
both were undergraduates at Saint Louis Univer-
sity. They had one child.
Dr. Mosley was preceded in death by his parents.
Among his survivors are his wife, Annetta Booth, his son and daughter-
in-law, Julian (“Jay”) C. Mosley III and Roxann Barnes Mosley of Los Ange-
les, and their two children, Chloe Juliauna Mosley and Harper Ella Jillian
Mosley.
Mississippi. After marrying Cedell Mosley Sr., she man-
aged her nearby grocery store and rental properties
before becoming a full-time homemaker.
His father, who came from Alabama, became one of the
few Black police officers on either side of the River. He
rose steadily through the ranks of law enforcement to
become chief of police and later the city’s public safety
director. He retired as head of security for an East Side
bank.
Dr. Mosley was in the first class to have African American students at East
Side Senior High School, from which he graduated in 1962. He attended the
United States Air Force Academy for two years before earning a Bachelor
of Science degree in chemistry from Saint Louis University in 1966. He
was the first East St. Louisan to graduate from the Washington University
School of Medicine and he went on to become the first African-American to
be chief surgery resident at the old Jewish Hospital of St. Louis.
A Surgeon Who Opened Doors
After graduating from Saint Louis University, Dr. Mosley
served as a research chemist at Anheuser Busch Brew-
ery in St. Louis, followed by an internship, residency
and his chief residency at the old Jewish Hospital until
1977. During his final year of residency, he also held
an American Cancer Society fellowship at Ellis Fishel
State Cancer Hospital in Columbia, Mo.
His fourth year of med school presented the unique
opportunity. He delivered babies during an obstetrics/
gynecology rotation at Homer G. Phillips Hospital, St. Louis’
premiere training ground for Black doctors for more than 40 years, until
its closing in 1979. Dr. Mosley became a surgeon and went into private
practice in St. Louis in 1977. He partnered with Frank O. Richards, M.D., at
Near North Central Surgical Practices until Dr. Richards’s retirement. He
also partnered with Parkside Surgical & Medical Practices. He continued to
practice until shortly before his death at 72 of prostate cancer..
During the ’90s, Dr. Mosley worked with other physicians and
community leaders to help reduce cancer in Blacks through education.
He cited smoking, environmental pollutants and lack of knowledge of
health care options among the chief culprits.
Julian Mosley Jr. was the second African American to
graduate from Washington University School of Medi-
cine, which had been in existence for more than 80
years when he received his medical degree in 1972.
Ten years earlier, Dr. James L. Sweatt had been the
first.
“I think that happened because, among blacks, the
Washington University medical school was perceived
not only as traditionally white and expensive, but
also as requiring almost impossibly impeccable credentials,” Dr.
Mosley said last year. “Even well-qualified blacks didn’t think they would
have much of a chance.”
Every ten years was not good enough for Dr. Mosley. While still in med
school, he began his dogged quest to ensure that the medical school
increased its output of Black doctors. He began actively recruiting other
Blacks and throughout his life he continued to do so. He became a long-
standing member of the med school’s admissions committee.
In 1979, Will Ross, M.D., who is currently the medical school’s dean of mi-
nority affairs, was one of Dr. Mosley’s recruits. Dr. Ross was a Yale under-
graduate at the time.
“He said ‘you belong here in St. Louis,’” Dr. Ross fondly recalled. “He was
very convincing. I owe him a debt of gratitude. Julian had stories of what
it was like for him and wanted the institute to become more embracing of
people of color.”
He succeeded. More than 300 Blacks have now graduated from the medical
school.
An East Side Boy Makes Good
Julian Cedell Mosley, Jr. had always wanted to
be a doctor. It was a big dream for a Black kid
growing up at the intersection of Gaty Avenue
and 26th Street in East St. Louis, even in the
city’s golden years.
He was born on April 2, 1944, in St. Louis at St.
Mary’s Infirmary, the first private, full-service hospital to allow Black phy-
sicians to admit their patients.
They nicknamed him Mickey
because he cried like a little
mouse. Mickey was the only
child of Julian Cedell Mosley, Sr.,
who was known as Cedell, and
Thaddeus (”Thad”) Scott Mosley,
who was named for her father.
Like thousands before them, his
parents had joined The Great
Migration of Blacks to the north
for better jobs and to escape Jim
Crow. His mother came from