Dr. Williams was a pioneer and champion for the fields of aging research and geriatrics. In addition to serving as AFAR’s Founding Director and as Scientific Director from 1992 through 2002, Dr. Williams was Director of the Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, from 1983 to 1991. Dr. Williams took pride in training the next generation of the nation’s scientists and geriatricians. He co-directed the Center on Aging at the University of Rochester, where he was Professor of Medicine and Preventive and Rehabilitative Medicine from 1968 to 1983 and served as Medical Director of the Monroe Community Hospital.

A native of North Carolina, Dr. Williams received his BS degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, his MA degree from Columbia University, and after three years active duty as a naval communications officer (1943-46), his MD degree (cum laude) from Harvard Medical School in 1950. He received residency training in internal medicine at the Osler Medical Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital and was for 14 years a research fellow and faculty member at the University of North Carolina.

Dr. Williams was an inspiration to all who met him. The Officers and Board of Directors of the American Federation for Aging Research are grateful for his long standing commitment to aging research and service to AFAR, and deeply mourn his loss.

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