NOTE FROM THE EDITORIAL OFFICE: THE PASSING OF KERR L. WHITE.

Abstract

It is with great sadness that I have to inform the readers of the International Journal of Health Services of the death of Dr. Kerr L. White, a founding member of the Editorial Board of the Journal and a major force behind its establishment. Dr. White was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to a Scottish father and English mother. He studied economics and medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and continued his studies in economics at Yale University. He also undertook graduate studies in statistics and epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was the founder of health services research and development in the United States, having established the National Center for Health Services and Research Development of the U.S. federal government. His areas of expertise included the organization, funding, and impact of health care on health and quality of life of populations. A primary motivation of his work was linking his commitment to social relevance with the rigor required in scientific research. Dr. White was invited by the Johns Hopkins University to establish a division of Medical Care and Hospitals in the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, which later became the Department of Health Policy and Management. He was a major progressive force at Hopkins and in the academic community of the United States. He encouraged his students and collaborators to question the conventional wisdom in medical establishments in the 1960s, when the Journal was established, with the intention to provide a forum for critical research and scholarship. He and Karl Evang, senior public health officer of Norway, and Sir John Brotherston, senior public health officer of Scotland, encouraged me to establish the IJHS. I had the enormous privilege of being a student of all three. In this description of Professor Kerr White, I would like to add a personal note. Kerr was an excellent human being. When I finished my studies in health