Robert N. Butler, MD, made a profound and lasting difference in the field of aging and health.Next week, we will launch the new Change AGEnts initiative at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) annual meeting in New Orleans.
And I can’t help but think about Bob Butler. He would have loved the idea because, in the field of aging and health, Bob was the original Change AGEnt.
If you are unfamiliar with his career, I encourage you to read the excellent new book by W. Andrew Achenbaum, Robert N. Butler, MD: Visionary of Healthy Aging. The word “visionary” is overused these days, but as those of us who were fortunate enough to have known Bob can attest, he richly deserves his place in that exclusive club.
Bob, who passed away three years ago, spent his life defining and grappling with the big questions of geriatrics: How does one age healthfully? How does a society age healthfully? And how does society help its members of all ages to age healthfully?
Those questions remain as relevant today as they were when Bob Butler wrote his revolutionary, Pulitzer Prize-winng book, Why Survive? Growing Old in America, in the early 1980s.
I was fortunate to have worked with Bob from 1994 to 2004 and I know that he lived what he preached. I recounted my experiences in a Health AGEnda post after Bob’s death. He worked tirelessly to try to improve the way that older people were treated in this country and around the globe. In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize, Bob coined the term “ageism,” was the founding director of the National Institute on Aging, the director of the first department of geriatrics in a medical school, and the founder of the International Longevity Center, which has grown into a multinational consortium of member organizations.
But even these accomplishments offer only a glimpse into the impact of his work. They do not tell his story.
This book tells Bob’s story. At times, I felt that Bob was sitting across from me and telling me in his own voice. Other times, it was Andy’s voice providing the historical context surrounding Bob’s work and accomplishments. Andy and Bob were good friends and they worked closely together on this biography up until Bob’s death on July 4, 2010.
It shows. The resulting book is indispensable for anyone interested in aging. It offers a thorough yet readable account of Bob’s extraordinary life and career, while providing the necessary historical context around his work in developing geriatrics and aging as a field of study and policy. A master storyteller, Andy brings Bob to life. He makes the reader feel the passion, the persuasion, the sense of possibility.
For those of you who knew Bob, you will feel his presence again as you read this book. For those of you who did not know Bob, you will wish you had after getting to know him through the pages of this inspiring biography. And to those of you who care about healthy aging and creating a better society for all ages, here is your primer.
And that brings me back to our new Change AGEnts initiative. In the blog I wrote upon learning of Bob’s death three years ago, I concluded:
“Bob’s purpose was to be a visionary leader, to inspire others to believe in better care for older people and take up the charge. It took a leader to prepare the way; it takes an entire workforce to build a better society for older people. This is the mission of the Hartford Foundation, and I trust it is your mission, too. Let’s honor Bob by working together towards our common goal.”
That’s what Change AGEnts is all about—taking up the charge. It’s about harnessing the collective strengths and expertise of Hartford’s grantees, scholars, and other health system leaders to create change in the practice environment to improve the health of older adults, their families, and communities.
Bob Butler devoted his life to improving the health of older adults. He made a profound and lasting difference in the field of aging and health, and I’m grateful to Andy Achenbaum for his wonderful and inspiring book that points the way for the rest of us.
Because each and every one of us can be a Change AGEnt in our own way, in our own field, in our own community.
Robert N. Butler, MD: Visionary of Healthy Aging by W. Andrew Achenbaum can be ordered through Columbia University Press. Enter code: ROBACH for a 30 percent discount.