For the final case presentation of patients who have taught me so much and given me great pleasure in the personal practice of internal medicine, I present the saga of the illness of Mr. J. Peter Grace, the grandson of the founder of W. R. Grace and Company who became its chairman in 1945 and built the firm from a $5 million concern to a $5 billion corporation during his unprecedented forty-seven years of tenure as its chairman. “Sir Peter,” as I dubbed him in deference to his position as head of the Knights of Malta, admired the Archangel Michael, “who loved heights,”1 as did Sir Peter who spent much of his adult life soaring above 30,000 feet in his private jet plane pursuing international and national business ventures that at latest count employed 50,000 employees. A great believer in and defender of capitalism and an enemy of waste in government, he somehow found and made the time for many philanthropies and above all for his beloved Roman Catholic Church as well as a host of non-sectarian causes. Like his grandfather, he was a personal friend and advisor to four American presidents and several cardinals and monarchs. A devoted family man with nine children and twenty grandchildren, he was blessed with a loyal, charming, and intelligent wife, Margaret, who gave stability to his sometimes roller-coaster lifestyle.

Sir Peter greatly admired the Archangel Michael and in jest, he would twit me that I inherited his name through the accident of my birth on St. Michael's Day, 8 May 1910, and reminded me of the archangel's enormous accomplishments. On several occasions during his serious illness, which had its ups and downs, Sir Peter reminded me of Saint Michael and often called me his “security blanket,” always available and accessible and in control of his case even when he was 30,000 feet above the earth or thousands of miles away from home. For those who may like to know more about the archangel, I quote from the opening paragraph of Henry Adams's famous classic.