DUPERTUIS, CLARENCE WESLEY (2 June 1907-5 Sept. 1992) was a prominent physical anthropologist who devoted his career to somatology (the study of body types), with an emphasis on investigations of possible relationships between physiques and susceptibility to disease. Son of Samuel and Myra (Kinney) Dupertuis, he was born in Yacolt, Washington, but spent much of his childhood in the Boston area. Dupertuis studied at Harvard University, graduating in 1929. In 1934 he married Helen Stimson, who would help him with his scientific work over the years. Dupertuis received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1940 and joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at Western Reserve University in 1948. During his long career he authored or co-authored a number of scholarly papers and reports, ranging from a study of the physique of coronary patients to a study of sex differences in pubic hair distribution. He also wrote portions of several books. His research and consulting projects took him around the world, including countries in Africa and Asia. He was a consultant to the military and had a small role in picking out the original U.S. astronauts. Dupertuis died in Cleveland, survived by his wife, his son, William S., his daughter, Lucy Gwyn Dupertuis, and two grandchildren. He was interred at Hillcrest Cemetery.
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