James Earl Salisbury, Ph.D (28 October 1951-9 April 2003) was an American educator. Born in Twin Falls, Idaho, he was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[1]. He was one of the first American victims of Severe acute respiratory syndrome.
He attended Brigham Young University and received a degree in Music[2], and later attended and graduated with a graduate degree in Education from Harvard University.[3]
He worked at Utah Valley State College where he was a "dedicated teacher"[3]. Later he worked at Shenzhen Polytechnic[4]
While he was raised as a Republican, in March 2003, while he was living in China, he announced that he was planning on joining the Communist Party of China. He said that he thought they were "very open-minded and wise." He said he planned on holding a formal press conference to make it official, but he died within a month.[2]
James Salisbury contracted SARS during the time he was in China teaching at Shenzhen Polytechnic.[4] He had been sick for approximately one month before his death[5], but was originally diagnosed with pneumonia.[6]. He had one of the more severe cases discovered[7]. He died 9 April 2003.[8] His Son, Michael "Mickey" Salisbury, was with him in China, and also contracted the disease, but survived it.[9] His death led to more open admissions by the Chinese government about the spread of SARS.[10]