He was a visionary, a pioneer, and the leader of a movement.
Dr. Robert N. Butler did more to change our perception and understanding of older adults than any other American.
DR. HODES: I think what made Dr. Butler unique was the combination of vision and the ability to communicate and act upon that vision.
DR. CASSEL: Bob Butler has a really important legacy in this country and globally.
MARTIN: A psychiatrist, a philosopher and activist, Dr. Butler established an entirely new field of medicine creating the nation's first department of geriatrics at a medical school.
DANIEL: Bob was erudite.
He was brilliant.
He was compassionate, and he was scientific.
FERNANDO: He helped to make aging, gerontology, geriatrics trendy, and if I can dare say, sexy.
MARTIN: Perhaps no one before him nor since, has grasped the challenges as well as the promise of an aging population.
KEN: He was a big thinker and he thought about things before anybody else saw them.
DR. BUTLER: We have to keep in mind that today's children will one day be older people, and today's older people were once children.
There's a unity and a continuity to life, which we must bear in mind.
And when we are negative towards old age, we're slashing our own tires.
This is really our own future we're talking about.
MARTIN: Half a century ago, Dr. Butler wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Why Survive?
Being Old in America."
This landmark work was a call to action to address the issues of older Americans.
50 years later, how far has our nation progressed in its treatment of our longest lived citizens?
When Dr. Butler wrote, "Why Survive?"
there were less than 23 million Americans over the age of 65.
Today, there are over 55 million, and yet the issues he identified, including our attitudes towards aging itself still persist.