IN MEMORIAM

Abstract

To the Editor: The geriatric and medical community lost an inspirational member this past October when Amasa (Buzz) Ford, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Family Medicine, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics passed away at the age of 85. Those of us who trained and worked in Cleveland had the honor and pleasure of being his colleague. He was a rare “quintuple threat”—clinician, researcher, teacher, administrator, and social activist. Amasa (nicknamed Buster and later shortened to Buzz) was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He went to preparatory high school at Exeter and college at Yale. After returning from the Army, he attended Harvard Medical School and did the first 2 years of his medical internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed his training at University Hospitals of Cleveland. He continued his association with Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland for the next 55 years. He was a funded investigator throughout his career. His research publications span 44 years, with his last first-author publication in 2000 on personal autonomy and successful aging.1 He collaborated with Sidney Katz and was second author on the original Katz activities of daily living paper we all know so well from 1963.2 He was a dedicated teacher during his career. He officially retired 13 years before his death but taught his last class of first-year medical students in the spring of 2007 at the age of 84. He was coauthor of the first two editions of The Practice of Geriatrics, published in 1986 and 1992. He was an active clinician, seeing patients at the Benjamin Rose Hospital, University Hospitals of Cleveland, the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Eliza Bryant Nursing Home, and the Hospice of the Western Reserve. He served many administrative roles during his career. He was the Associate Dean for Geriatric Medicine from 1980 to 1995. He helped create the Department of Family Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and was instrumental in recruiting its first Chairman, Jack Medalie. He was also a member of the Ohio Board of Regents and a long-time trustee of the Eliza Bryant Village, a nationally recognized inner-city senior care program. Finally, he was a social activist. He was a strong advocate for elderly people and urban poor people. In 1970, he published “Casualties of Our Time” in Science, in which he asked “Are we training the workers, developing the services, and setting aside the funds that are already needed to make a decent life for tens of thousands of disabled old people?”3 In 1976 (after a sabbatical in London), he published the book, Urban Health in America, and advocated for a national health insurance program.4 He was a founding member of Physicians for Social Responsibility. On a personal note, he was my medical school adviser and nurtured my developing interest in geriatrics. He recommended that I go to the University of Rochester to work with his medical school laboratory partner, T. Franklin Williams. Throughout my career, he was a mentor, an adviser, and model academic physician. He was soft spoken, unassuming, organized, and always focused on doing the right thing. He was the 1989 Nascher Manning Award Recipient for distinguished achievement in clinical geriatrics. In his acceptance address, he called for a “new model,” putting “the older person, not the hospital, at the center of services.” Dr. Ford was a rare individual who was successful in so many areas of medicine and citizenship. These multitalented individuals who are able to have significant effect in so many areas are uncommon. He was a wonderful role model and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Conflict of Interest: None. Author Contributions: Sole author. Sponsor's Role: None.