Joan Banes

Joan Banes, an accomplished scientist and a woman beloved by numerous dear friends and the three families she joined through marriage, died peacefully in her sleep on May 12, 2023 at her residence in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, at 93 years of age. She had been a South Bay resident for over 20 years.

Joan was born and raised in Patterson, New Jersey. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Science from Rutgers University in the 1940s. Her career began as an assistant to a cardiologist researcher, Dr. John Laragh in New York City. As Dr. Laragh grew to become one of the world’s leading experts in the field of hypertension, developing a practice that included many scientists, Joan’s career grew with him. She took on the role of managing the practice, processing grants and editing the enormous volume of papers published in peer-reviewed journals each year.

In an era where women working in science was unusual, and many thought women should not be working at all, she ran into predictable obstacles: when Dr. Laragh decided to move the practice from New York Hospital to Columbia Presbyterian, he had to get the hospital board’s approval to pay Joan’s salary because “no woman should be paid that much.” Joan went on to be one of the founders of the American Society of Hypertension in 1985, and she served on the Board of Directors of the American Journal of Hypertension.

Nancy Rainville, the sister of her first husband, Nicholas Gerten, became her best friend, and Joan was a beloved aunt to Nancy’s five children. Nancy’s daughter Christina, a lawyer, credits Joan for showing her that a woman can become anything she wants to be. Her second husband, Kenneth Banes, was a New York advertising producer. She and Ken enjoyed a beautiful country home and property outside the city for 20 years and enjoyed traveling overseas. Her third marriage, in a story that sounds like it could be from an old Hollywood movie, was to her college boyfriend at Rutgers, David Mars. She and David shared a passion for classical music. They lived in a striking apartment in Redondo Beach overlooking the Pacific.

Joan was an accomplished and compassionate person who possessed a remarkable intellect. She leaves behind three grieving families; her first husband Nick Gerten and his wife Kathy, nieces and nephews Denise Rainville Hoe, Donald, Mark, Jeffrey and Christina Rainville and their spouses, children and grandchildren; through her marriage with Ken Banes, stepson Evan Sinclair and stepdaughter Lisa Banes (pre-deceased), daughters-in-law Hallie Atkinson and Kathryn Kranhold; and through her marriage with David Mars, stepson Bob Mars and stepdaughter Betsy Mars, in-laws Melanie Mars and Jim Naphas, step-grandchildren Daniel and Kat Naphas and her partner Raleigh Welch, Montana Mars and Chelsea Seburn.

These family members, and many caring friends, were devoted to Joan and spent a great deal of time with her in her final years. All of them will miss her dearly and will never again know anyone quite like her.