Dr. John E. Moore, Hobo Herbologist Extra-ordinaire, as he was known, and Director of Herbology at The Tree of Life in Harlem passed from this Earth Thursday evening, August 2, 1990 at 7:00 pm just as the Moon passed into his Sun sign of Capricorn. He was 63 years old and a patient at the Qualicare Nursing Home in Detroit, Michigan where he was diagnosed as suffering from a combination of pneumonia and TB. He had been working at "Heal Inc" in Detroit with trips to Tuskegee, Alabama ever since he left The Wisdom Temple in Harlem in the Fall of 1988 where he had been teaching herbal classes since 1983.

 

In 1973, Dr. Moore had joined Kanya Vashon McGhee, founder and director of The Tree of Life, and remained there until September 1980 when the building was torn down. He was an initiate of numerous traditions who had spent 20 years on the road, delving into Indian, Mexican and native Black herbal lore with a clarity of mind and depth of Soul that has led him to become one of the most advanced herbal doctors on this continent. Born the son of a Baptist preacher in Caddogap, Arkansas in December, 1926, Dr. Moore was gifted with that charismatic energy of articulation and inspiration that is the especial province of the African American ministry. He is remembered by many for his regular Friday night lectures in Harlem and as having drawn crowds of over a thousand people in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village with his Sunday lectures on Herbology and Survival.

Actress Ruby Dee, Dick Gregory, Pete Seeger, Sun Ra, Stevie Wonder, Rev. Kirkpatrick, Ramsey Lewis, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Earth Wind & Fire were just a few of the many stars that drew from this fountain of Wisdom.