Harold COLBURN

Only very recently did I learn of Dr. Colburn's passing. I'd like to offer belated condolences to his family and to say that Dr.Harold N. Colburn was a pioneer in public service in his efforts to put the 'smoking and health' issue on the policy map. In March of this year his colleague Owen Donald ("OD") Lewis also passed away, aged 92. I worked with OD and knew Dr. Colburn only slightly. I have subsequently worked in tobacco control my entire career at Health Canada. The name of Harold Colburn is well remembered. Since his retirement in 1986, the program has grown far beyond what he might have imagined back in the 1960s and 1970s when he was one of the few to see that smoking had to be combatted systematically...and without blaming smokers. It may never be feasible to eliminate smoking, but thanks in part to his inspiring early efforts Canada has become more successful than most countries and is a recognized leader in reducing smoking and its toll on health.

Dear Peggy: I saw with great sadness Harold's obituary today (June 10, 2012) in the CMA Journal. Harold was a marvelous public health colleague and friend. I learned so much from him. It was because of knowing and working with Harold in the early 1980's that convinced me to peruse a career in public health. Working with him and Andres Petrasovitis was such fun which included some lovely dinners at your house. Harold made a major contribution to public health in Canada and probably more than anyone else in the country brought the concept of heart health into the main stream of public health thinking in this country. Please accept my sincerest condolences.

The members of the vintage Manitoba medical class of 1951 were all good people, but Harold Colburn and C larence Cohoe were two who were missionaries at heart,, wishing to work where they could do the most good. Harold was such a large man that some internists thought he must have acromegaly (excess of growth hormone extending into adult life, but they were wrong. Harold was just a big man in every good sense of the word. He served the poorest farmers in the province at Vita MB with Dr Walton, then the disadvantaged First Nations people as they are now known at The Pas and Norway House, and then had a distinguished career in Ottawa with the Federal Department of Health. Harold had the satisfaction of seeing smoking rates decline as a result of his efforts and pioneered early changes in Life Styles when those efforts were in their infancy. Sixty-three years as a devoted husband to Peggy and as a father to five tall daughters were enviable. Harold cast a long shadow indeed and he left his mark on health in Canada. Classmate Stu Houston