Gairdner Foundation Annual Award in 1963, the Emil von Behringer Prize in 1966, and honorary Sc.D. degrees from Williams College, Yale University, and Emory University. Despite those accolades, Coons remained a modest, affable, and quiet person who was devoted to his work, family, friends, and students. Personal life Coons died of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure in September, 1978, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is buried in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Coons was survived by his wife, Phyllis (née Watts) [1917-2002], a writer for the Boston Globe newspaper; his son, Albert H., Jr. (1957–2003), a Boston attorney; and four daughters: Elizabeth, a medical editor; Susan, an educator; Hilary, a clinical psychologist; and Wendy, a social worker. References External links National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir 1912 births 1978 deaths People from Brookline, Massachusetts Williams College alumni American pathologists American immunologists Harvard Medical School alumni United States Army officers United States Army Medical Corps officers Harvard Medical School faculty Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American physicians Military personnel from Massachusetts