WiRED Mourns the Loss of Lewis D. Eigen

BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW; EDITED BY BERNICE BORN

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iRED International’s board of directors and volunteers are deeply saddened by the death of Lewis D. Eigen, Ed.D., on October 28, 2018, at age 82. He passed away peacefully at home surrounded by three generations of his family. Dr. Eigen was a business leader, educator, public servant, humanitarian and WiRED Board member.

 

WiRED Director Gary Selnow, Ph.D., said, “Over the years, Lew was instrumental in WiRED’s development, and in our evolving approach to health education and program distribution. We will grieve for Lew in the days ahead, and we will celebrate his years of membership on our board and stay mindful of his guidance that has made our organization more effective in its humanitarian mission.”

 

Dr. Eigen received a B.A. from Brown University and an Ed.D. from Columbia University. In 1964 he designed the Job Corps program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, and was appointed its deputy director, shaping the foundations of a program that continues today. During his career, Dr. Eigen wrote 19 books, created reference databases and published hundreds of articles.

 

Dr. Eigen, along with his wife, Ramona Arnett, dedicated themselves to causes including alcohol and drug abuse reduction, and education and international medical projects. He successfully used the power of technologically-based tools to further his business and philanthropic goals. Tens of thousands of people have benefited from his projects, which distilled data involving such topics as alcohol abuse, cancer and tuberculosis into an understandable format for those without the benefit of formal public health training. A strong believer in empowering through education, he created educational sites seeking to bridge the injustice of social, geographic and economic education gaps. Despite ill-health in his later life, he never stopped learning.

 

Dr. Eigen is survived by his wife, his son Jonathan Eigen and his wife Ana, his granddaughter Thalia Eigen, his sister Judith Sarna and her husband Morris Sarna, his sister-in-law and brother-in-law Dr. William Stwalley and Mauricette Stwalley and his brother-in-law Ned Frisius.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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