John Tracy, the son of actor Spencer Tracy for whom a well-known center for deaf children was named, has died. He was 82.
Tracy died late Friday night at his son’s home in Acton, where he had lived for the past several years, his sister, Louise Treadwell “Susie” Tracy, said in a statement Saturday.
The family did not know the exact cause of death, which followed a long illness, said Barbara Hecht, president of the John Tracy Clinic of Los Angeles.
“He lived a fairly healthy life until very recently,” she said. “His systems were just shutting down … old age,” she said.
Tracy had Usher Syndrome, a genetic disease that affects hearing and vision. His mother, Louise, discovered he was deaf when a slamming porch door failed to wake the sleeping 10-month-old.
Tracy’s mother dedicated her life to helping families with deaf and hearing-impaired children. She founded the John Tracy Clinic in 1942, providing free services to parents of hearing-impaired infants and preschool children.
Tracy did not have an active role in the clinic but made several visits, Hecht said.
Tracy attended school in Massachusetts, New York and Los Angeles. He graduated from Pasadena City College and attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.
Despite a childhood battle with infantile paralysis, he began riding horses at 10 and became an accomplished polo player.
Tracy wanted to become a cartoonist and for a time he worked in the prop department at Walt Disney Studios.
Eventually the Usher Syndrome caused his eyesight to fail, Hecht said. He was blind in later years, she said.
“He had one of the best dispositions of anyone I ever knew,” his sister said in a letter to friends announcing his death.Tracy is survived by his sister; son, Joseph Spencer Tracy, and three grandchildren.
