In memoriam

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•       December 5th email from David Kiel to Victor Schoenbach

  "Rolf Lynton, formerly Associate Professor of Mental Health (UNC SPH), Professor of Social Medicine (UNC SOM), and founding Dean of what became the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, passed away on Sunday, December 1, 2024. He had turned 100 years old in April. His daughter Maya Rake was with him. He had been in home hospice since early January 2024, mostly bed-ridden, but still quite lucid for most of this period. Friends and family visited when they could. His children called him every day.

  "Rolf's passing closes a long, long chapter in my life, an extraordinary run for a mentor-mentee, father-substitute-role model, etc, relationship. This connection is part of who I am. I am sure you had similar feelings about your mentor and colleague Bert Kaplan, who was also such a benefactor to me.

  "Like Bert, Rolf was a giant of public health, whereas Bert was a pioneer of social and mental health-oriented epidemiological research and theory building, Rolf was a pioneer in concepts and methods of building complex organizations that could have a positive impact on what we are now calling the social determinants of health. For many years these two leaders shared complementary interests and were in correspondence with one another."

  
  
• Obituary by T.V. Rao
  "Dr. Rolf Lynton came to India in 1954 from Harvard Business School along with his wife Ronnie (who worked with Hawthorne studies team earlier) started developing leadership among youth and community development agents (Aloka) in India and Sri Lanka. During his work he met Dr. Sarabhai who got him involved in human relations and building change agents in urban India starting with ATIRA. He was associated with IIMs, SIET Institute and other institutions as a Ford Foundation consultant. He introduced laboratory education in India and got many faculty from IIMA, C, SIET institute trained at NTL and got them to start ISABS. He coauthored with Dr. Udai Pareek Training for Development published in the US and became a text book in many US universities and later in India. He continued his association with Udai Pareek and Sarabhai family and kept coming to India to participate in many change initiatives. . . . Posted in LinkedIn, 12/2/2024
• A Century of Service: Rolf Lynton Dies at Age 100
  December 13, 2024, Lee Pearson. The inaugural dean of public health at the University of South Carolina died in early December, ending a century-long life of service in the social sciences. Rolf Lynton, who was named dean of public health at USC in 1974, was instrumental in setting in motion many of the driving forces that continue to propel the Arnold School's success today.