Hugo Moser

Hugo Wolfgang Moser (1924–2007) was a Swiss-born American research scientist and director of the Neurogenetics Research Center at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Moser was also University Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University. His research on peroxisomal disorders achieved international recognition. Early life Moser was born in Bern, Switzerland, the son of Maria and Hugo L. Moser. He grew up in Berlin. His father was of Jewish background and a prominent art dealer in Berlin. His mother was Austrian. Within a month of Hitler taking power in Germany the family left Berlin. Hugo spent his high school years in the Netherlands. Three months prior to the invasion of the Netherlands his mother arranged their timely escape from the Nazis. The family fled via Italy and Spain to Cuba. In 1940, the family arrived in the US, first living in Baltimore, where the family owned paintings exhibited in the Baltimore Museum of Art, then moved to New York City. Survivor guilt plagued Moser for having escaped the Holocaust without harm. His aunt and uncle, who were not able to leave the Netherlands, died in a German concentration camp. He devoted his life to working for the less privileged and disenfranchised. Education