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Dr. Brian J. Piper, 52, died on Aug. 30, 2026, surrounded by his family and an abundance of love. Born in Alpena he was the son of Deborah (Dubey) Piper and James (Jim) Piper. He grew up on Hubbard Lake. His education included graduating from Alcona High, attending Alpena Community College, earning a BS in Psychology and an MS in Experimental Psychology (neuropharmacology) from Northern Michigan University, a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oregon and Oregon Health Sciences University.
Brian was a deeply dedicated, enthusiastic, and generous educator and mentor who tirelessly strived to advance students in their careers in science, research, and medicine. He taught neuroscience, biopsychology, statistics, and bioethics to undergraduate, graduate, medical, and pharmacy students, and medical residents. His biomedical research was generously supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, pharmaceutical companies, the Department of Defense, and various private organizations. He particularly enjoyed discovering unexpected answers to novel questions in public health, quantitative bioethics, and psychopharmacology. A prolific scientist, he published over one-hundred-and-thirty scientific journal articles, the majority with student co-authors.
His accomplishments included publications with rats, monkeys, and human participants that covered an increasingly broad array of topics investigating therapeutic use and misuse of (opioids, cannabinoids, stimulants, and hallucinogens), identifying undisclosed conflicts of interest in resources widely used in medicine (e.g. the Diagnostic and Statical Manual of Mental Disorders), neurochemistry, brain-behavior methods development, electronic medical records, artificial intelligence, and oncology. These included studies published in the British Medical Journal and were cited greater than five-thousand times. His publications were of interest to local and national journalists with coverage over two-hundred times including by Rolling Stone, British Medical Journal, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
Brian married Lori Heagle from Long Lake Michigan after a brief (20 year) adventure filled courtship. While being fortunate to live in many beautiful locations all over the country, they were each other’s home for 34 years, sharing a love for being in nature, hiking, kayaking, and exploring waterfalls together.
Although somewhat reserved for a professor, he closely followed national and regional politics and would readily discuss these topics with anyone within ear-shot that shared these interests.
During his experience with cancer, Brian thrived, continued to follow his passions, and showed us how to live. For generations to come, his legacy will live on through those he has helped with his scholarship and research and through the work of those he mentored.
He is survived by his wife Lori Heagle, parents James and Deborah Piper, brother Brad Piper, aunt Janet Brookbank, mother-in-law Ann Nowak, father-in-law Mike Nowak, nephew Taylor Nowak, sister-in-law Christine Nowak, brother-in-law Frank Reinbold, father-in-law David Heagle, and many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins.
If you want to honor Brian, enjoy a hike in nature, wear his favorite color orange, read, share and discuss a peer reviewed scientific journal article, vote in every election, and use your skills to help others. Memorial donations can be made to National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/donations/support?donate=npr
A private family celebration of life will be held at a later time.