University Times

Herschel E. Griffin, dean of the Graduate School of Public Health from 1969 to 1980, died in San Diego, Calif., on March 29, 2010. He was 91.

Griffin earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University in 1939 and his medical degree from the University of California-Berkeley in 1943.

According to the U.S. Army Medical Division Office of Medical History, Griffin entered the Army Medical Corps in 1950 and soon was appointed regimental surgeon; later, in Korea, he was promoted to division surgeon. From 1966 to 1969, he served as chief of the Preventive Medicine Division in the Office of the Surgeon General.

While in the military, Griffin participated in the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB) and its commissions. From 1978 to 1980, while he was dean at GSPH, he also served as president of the AFEB. He also organized an ad hoc subcommittee to evaluate and coordinate all ongoing and proposed epidemiological studies of asbestos-related health problems.

After his military service, Griffin became the third dean of GSPH. Former Dean Bernard Goldstein, now a faculty member in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, said of Griffin: “I greatly benefited from his example and his precepts while serving with him on a variety of national committees evaluating environmental health issues. He was usually the senior leader providing public health depth and perspective, often with highly pertinent anecdotes from his military experience.”

In 1969, when Griffin became dean, Crabtree Hall was dedicated. This addition allowed for a period of rapid growth at the school. In the 1969-70 academic year, GSPH had 275 full- and part-time students; by 1978-79, there were 462 students at the school.

Lewis Kuller, Distinguished University Professor of Public Health, said Griffin played a key role in transforming GSPH into a major research and doctoral/postdoctoral training institution. “In 1971, he and Dr. Monto Ho took the Epidemiology Summer Institute at the University of Minnesota where I was teaching cardiovascular epidemiology and subsequently recruited me to chair the Department of Epidemiology. I joined the faculty at GSPH in 1973,” Kuller said. “Hersch had a very strong commitment to the school at a time when funding sources were rapidly changing from the Mellon Endowment to external, mostly federal, funding. He encouraged the career development of junior faculty members and especially the expansion of teaching and research programs in GSPH. The research portfolio and extramural funding grew substantially during his tenure as dean. He also enjoyed working with the graduate students and nurturing their careers. He was an excellent teacher. The University of Pittsburgh consistently ranked as one of the top public health schools during his tenure as dean.”

From 1977 to 1980, Griffin served as secretary-treasurer of the American Board of Preventive Medicine.

After retiring from GSPH, Griffin helped establish the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University.

He is survived by a son, Bruce N. Griffin; a daughter, Karen L. Griffin; four nieces, and a nephew.

—Linda L. Fletcher