Stephen Smith (1823-1922): founder of the American Public Health Association

During his formative professional years, three characteristics of Smith were always evident: he mobilized and enlightened citizens, researched and backed his sanitary campaigns with evidence, and declared that the public's health required a wellorganized public health system staffed with well-trained professionals. Smith published a retrospective review in 1911 that is tellingly entitled The City That Was.4 He was not always correct in his portents of the future: for example, he reasoned that the human life span should be 100 years, and that this could be achieved through advances in public health and medicine by the 100th anniversary of APHA.