Here are some excerpts from a fascinating obituary of an important man that appeared in the NY Times on January 6, 2013..
"Alexander Leaf, a versatile physician and research scientist who was an early advocate of diet and exercise to prevent heart disease, and who traveled the world to make important discoveries about increasing human longevity and to help scientifically establish the dangers global warming poses to the human species, died on Dec. 24 in Boston. He was 92.
He was born in Japan in 1920 to parents fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution and went on to become chief of medical services at Massachusetts General from 1966 to 1981 where he established one of the first programs in the country for primary-care medical residents and set up a network of free clinics in poor neighborhoods around Boston.
Leaf was a founding member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, which was formed in 1961 to oppose nuclear proliferation and later added environmental and social problems to its portfolio. He led Harvard’s department of preventive medicine from 1981 to 1990.