February 25, 2013

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

Surgeon General C Everett Koop dies: A great loss

C Everett Koop, the Surgeon General in the 1980s who first called for a smoke free society by the year 2000, died yesterday at age 96.  While we didn't reach his goal by 2000, we are well on our way.

Dr. Koop was a visionary and courageous leader whose defining personal quality was towering personal integrity who was willing to act on the scientific evidence.

Even when we disagreed (as on abortion), there was always mutual respect. 

I was honored to visit Dartmouth last December to give a lecture in his honor and was able to visit him at home, where he was being cared for by his wife, Cora Hogue Koop.  The love was palpable.

We should all be inspired to work harder and do better.

Comments

Comment: 

Stan,
Well said.  I had the privilege of working closely with Dr. Koop, along with Skip Humphrey and you, when the American Lung Association was the only major voluntary health agency to oppose the 1997 efforts by the state AG's to grant Big Tobacco legal immunity.  His courageous leadership helped me sharpen my own focus on what had to be done to defeat Big Tobacco's number one priority.  When I left the ALA in 2001, Dr. Koop and you spoke at my retirement dinner.  There could have been no greater honor.  Favorable quotations from both of you are still prominently displayed on my website.
John Garrison

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