We rarely have the privilege of encountering one of the founders of anything, but as a graduate student at the University of Southern California in the 1970s I had the honor of meeting Jim Birren. I didn't know him well, but well enough to recognize that he embodied a rare combination of traits: a personable man of integrity who was able to negotiate political and academic bureaucracies to achieve great things. All of us in "aging" are indebted to him. Read the Davis School of Gerontology's obituary (PDF, 227 KB).
Birren
