Dr. Eugene (Gene) Gangarosa, a pioneer among epidemiologists and medical educators, passed away peacefully in mid-August at the age of 96.  His career spanned 70 years during which he made outstanding contributions to public health on four continents.

A native of Italy, his family emigrated to the U.S. during the Great Depression.  He witnessed the death of four of his 13 siblings who succumbed to childhood diseases and he, himself, was stricken with rheumatic fever.  As a serviceman, he was instrumental in suppressing an outbreak of typhus in Naples during World War II.  Benefitting from the G.I. Bill, he graduated as a physician and dedicated his life to suppressing public health diseases mainly transmitted through contaminated water.  His development of oral rehydration therapy for intestinal infections including cholera may have saved as many as 50 million lives and reduced infant mortality. 

During the 1960s and 1970s, he established programs to investigate and suppress food and waterborne illness while at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and he developed practical technologies for chlorinating water at household level in developing nations.  As an educator, he was responsible for mentoring generations of students in the U.S., Pakistan, Lebanon and Latin America. 

He was instrumental in establishing the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. The Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health named in his honor. During his extensive career, he published 136 scientific articles and 24 book chapters and an autobiography that described a transition from food stamps to philanthropy.

 He and his wife of over 70 years, Dr. Rose Gangarosa, established endowments to promote safe water and public health, including the College of Charleston Public Health Student Practicum in collaboration with the CDC.  His philanthropy extended to three endowed distinguished Professorships, a scholarship fund.

He will be sadly missed but his legacy lives on in his students and practical achievements in public health and prevention of disease.