Dr. Karl Heinz Ginzel

Doctor Karl Heinz Ginzel of Westhampton, Mass., died peacefully at home Sunday, June 30, 2013 of natural causes. He was 92 years old. Dr. Ginzel was born in Czechoslovakia June 1, 1921. He grew up in Vienna, Austria where he earned a medical degree, becoming a licensed physician. After a 1950 fellowship at Oxford University, England he moved to Los Angeles, Calif., as a World Health Organization Fellow. He spent the remainder of his life as a U.S. citizen living in Los Angeles, Little Rock, Ark., Las Cruces, N.M., and Westhampton, Mass. Dr Ginzel was a respected research pharmacologist and toxicologist. His career centered at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where he was intensely involved with the health consequences of tobacco and secondhand smoke. Dr. Ginzel was often called as an expert witness in trials involving adverse effects of tobacco smoke. His activist participation in the considerable advances in both tobacco education and non-smoking legislation over the last four decades were among his proudest accomplishments. Dr Ginzel had a keen and inquiring mind with interests ranging from Economic Theory to Native American Spirituality. He was an accomplished nature and portrait photographer and placed in juried competitions. He was also a proponent of Montessori education helping open the first such school in Little Rock in the 1970s. Dr Ginzel is survived by his wife and loving partner of 30 years Judith Dunaway, and her family including daughter Elizabeth Dunaway, son Edward Forrest Smith III, son-in-law Jordi Herold, and beloved grandchildren Sierra Smith, Angelica Kirkpatrick, Simone Dunaway, and Zelda Dunaway. He is also survived by his daughter the artist Nicola Ginzel of Brooklyn, NY, and in Austria by his son Dr. Hellmut Ginzel, grandchildren Christian Ginzel, Katharina Ginzel and Claudia Wein, and four great grandchildren. Condolences may be sent: c/o One Short Street, Northampton, MA 01060. Memorial Donations: Coyote Institute, PO Box 578, Brattleboro, VT 05302, The Montessori School of Northampton, 32 Bates Street, Northampton, MA 010060. Press contact: jordiherold@earthlink.net.