Dr. Robert N. Butler, 83, champion of geriatrics

Dr. Robert N. Butler, who almost single-handedly established the critical importance of geriatric medicine, died of leukemia July 4 at the age of 83.

Dr. Butler invented the term “ageism,” was the founding director of the National Institute on Aging in 1975, and in that year won the Pulitzer Prize with “Why Survive? Being Old in America.”
“In speech after speech,” wrote Douglas Martin in The New York Times, “he pounded home the message that longevity in the United States had increased by 30 years in the 20th century – greater than the gain during the preceding 5,000 years of human history.”

"Human beings need the freedom to live with change, to invent and reinvent themselves a number of times through their lives,” he wrote.

Raised by his grandparents, Dr. Butler learned the importance of being honest about death when, at the age of 7, his beloved grandfather disappeared and nobody would tell him why, denying him the healing power of grief. He drew inspiration from the strength and courage of his maternal grandmother, who survived the rigors of the Great Depression.

As an intern, he realized how little he had been taught about treating his elderly patients. He began the lifelong studies that “really put geriatrics on the map,” said Dr. David B. Reuben, chief of the division of geriatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles.