Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop -- known for his outspoken, sometimes controversial positions on abortion, AIDS and drugs, and for his tremendous influence in a role that was previously seen as somewhat insignificant -- died at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire on Monday, Reuters reported. He was 96 years old.
His death was announced by Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, where he founded the C. Everett Koop Institute, according to Reuters.
Koop, a pediatric surgeon, served as the leading U.S. spokesman on public heath matters and adviser to President Ronald Reagan from November 1981 until October 1989, Reuters reported.
"Dr. Koop was not only a pioneering pediatric surgeon but also one of the most courageous and passionate public health advocates of the past century," Dr. Wiley W. Souba, dean of the Geisel School, told Reuters.
Koop firmly believed he knew what was best for the nations' health, speaking out on issues like abortion, AIDS, fatty foods, drugs and cigarettes, Reuters reported.
He enraged the tobacco industry and lawmakers who counted on the industry's support by insisting that smoking kills and should be banned.
He also blocked the Reagan administration's plans for extensive AIDS testing, saying that the disclosure of such results could ruin the careers of those tested, Reuters reported.
Kopp was also known for spearheading the drive to make AIDS education the primary means of preventing the disease, writing a brochure about the disease that was distributed to millions of American households.
Enforcing condom use was another major part of Kopp's work -- but he took some heart for it. Conservative activist and Koop critic Phyllis Schlafly blasted him, saying that he is encouraging the "teaching of safe sodomy in public schools," Reuters reported. She demanded, unsuccessfully, that Koop stop encouraging safe sex.
One feminist leader also blasted Kopp as a "monster" for his anti-abortion position, according to Reuters.
"He saved countless lives through his leadership in confronting the public health crisis that came to be known as AIDS and standing up to powerful special interests like the tobacco companies," U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, told Reuters.
Kopp, born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Oct. 14, 1916, was badly injured as a child in a skiing accident and while playing football, which led to his interest in medicine.
He entered Dartmouth College in New Hampshire at only 16, and later graduated from Cornell Medical School.
Koop was preceded in death by his first wife, Elizabeth, and by their son David, Dartmouth told Reuters.
He is survived by the children he had with Elizabeth: Allen Koop, the Rev. Norman Koop and Elizabeth Thompson. His wife, Cora, whom he married in 2010, also survives him. He also left behind eight grandchildren, Dartmouth told Reuters.
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