Remembering Robert Butler: A Wake-Up Call

Posted on | July 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

Eric Dishman

Sometimes the death of someone you care about can be a slap in the face to take perspective on your own problems in life and to keep living that life to its fullest. When I saw last night on the news (see the New York Times write-up here) that Dr. Robert Butler, arguably the most important pioneer in the field of aging, died this weekend, I had such a wakeup call. A flood of thoughts and questions went through me: “How can he be gone? Was he really 83 years old? He was so young. I had no idea he even had Leukemia. He didn’t seem sick. I will miss him, even though I barely knew him. I wouldn’t have my career if it weren’t for him. I wish I had told him ‘thank you.'”

I have just finished Dr. Butler’s latest book, The Longevity Prescription. And I was planning to call him next week to see if he would keynote an independent living conference. I didn’t know Dr. Butler well (he would tell me to call him “Robert” or even “Bob” but that just never felt right to me). I only met him twice but can remember each of those experiences in explicit detail, as if filmed in slow motion in my memory. (CONTINUE….)

Category: aging, Eric Dishman, Geriatrics, health care reform, public health, public policy, Robert Butler MD

Comments

One Response to “Remembering Robert Butler: A Wake-Up Call”

Mike Magee
July 10th, 2010 @ 12:26 pm

Eric-

Thanks for this wonderfully thoughtful tribute. Bob was an incredible guy. What I will remember most is his energy (he defined longevity in this regard) and his appearance (which to me always was stately and wise). The work you do seems the perfect way to honor him, for I imagine he is out there somewhere encouraging you and instructing all of us with “Carry on!”

Mike