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HEALTHY HABITS: Paffenbarger showed that physical activity was linked to longer life.
Ralph Radford
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Exercising Authority
It is self-evident now: regular exercise can stave off heart disease and other chronic health conditions. But decades ago, that idea was still being explored. A pioneer of the field of exercise epidemiology was Ralph Paffenbarger. His landmark research showed that people who burned more calories lived longer, healthier lives.
Paffenbarger, a professor emeritus of health research and policy at the School of Medicine, died July 9 in Santa Fe, N.M., of congestive heart disease. He was 84.
Paffenbarger was born in Columbus, Ohio, and became the youngest Eagle Scout ever from his home state at the time. He served in World War II before attending medical school at Northwestern U. and then earning advanced degrees in public health from Johns Hopkins U. He worked at Harvard and UC-Berkeley before coming to Stanford in 1977. After becoming emeritus in 1993, he returned to UC-Berkeley to join the department of human biodynamics.
In 1960, he launched the longitudinal College Alumni Health Study following more than 50,000 Harvard and U. of Pennsylvania graduates. The findings, published in 1986, included significant reductions in death rates in men who burned at least 2,000 calories per week, and showed that people who got adequate exercise lived one to two years longer than their sedentary cohorts. The results were influential in recommendations made by the surgeon general and other health authorities.
Paffenbarger took his own medicine.
At 45, “all of a sudden he started to go running at the local junior high school track,” recalls his son, Charles Paffenbarger. In the short term, the increase in exercise was hard on the professor. His son says he was on crutches for several days after his first marathon. But the senior Paffenbarger made the events a habit, completing the Boston Marathon 22 times. Renowned in his field, Paffenbarger also was known as modest, polite and generous. Even after his own running career had ended, he would play host to comrades who were competing in Bay Area races.
Paffenbarger is survived by his wife, JoAnn, four children from a previous
marriage—Ralph III, Ann Dow, Charles and Timothy—and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Dale Higdon, and two sons, James and John.
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STANDOUT: For six terms, Dunn represented Washington's 8th district.
Courtesy Stanford Medical Center
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Leading Lady
Former Rep. Jennifer Blackburn Dunn, '63 (English), one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress who represented the Seattle area for six terms, died September 5 of a pulmonary embolism. She was 66.
Known for voting conservatively on economic and foreign policy issues and more moderately on cultural issues, Dunn represented the 8th Congressional District, the most affluent district in the state. She was the first woman to lead the Washington State Republican Party and served as chair for 12 years beginning in 1981. After she was elected to Congress in 1992, she became the first freshman woman to win a place on the House Republican leadership team. She also was given a coveted seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Later, she served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference. She was known in Congress for cutting the inheritance tax, sponsoring the Amber Alert law and advocating for free trade.
She retired in 2005 despite President Bush urging her to run for Senate. She was newly married and said she wanted more time with her family. She subsequently joined a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm. Dunn is survived by her husband, Keith Thomson; two sons, Reagan and Bryant; a stepson, Angus Thomson; and two grandchildren.
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REMEMBERED: The Immortal 21, with Miller in the front row, third from left.
Courtesy Art Miller
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The End of an Era
Arthur L. Miller, '31 (history), MA '47 (education), of Sequim, Wash., died July 19, at 97, of a stroke. He was the last surviving member of the “Immortal 21,” a group of students who stole the Axe from Cal in 1930. The students, dressed as guards, fled with the Axe as it was being transferred to a bank vault, and were acclaimed as heroes back at the Farm. A member of the baseball and soccer teams, Miller served in the Army during World War II. After earning his master's degree, he worked as athletic director and counselor at Edison High School in Fresno, Calif., and then counselor at Roosevelt High School. From 1960 to 1971, he was principal of Fresno High—the high school's longest serving principal upon his retirement. He is survived by his son, Robert; and his daughter, Barbara Smith.
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