100 SCRIPPS GERONTOLOGY CENTER @
ONE FOR THE AGES
D U RIN G A 1 9 1 8 boating expedition to China, retired newspaper mogul Edward Willis “E.W.” Scripps found time as he recovered from a stroke to examine a dissertation by prominent demographer Warren Thompson. In his paper, Thompson warned of an “unchecked population multiplying much faster than the world’s ability to provide subsistence for it.” Because of this research and the ensuing trip, where Scripps saw overpopulation and hunger firsthand, he reached out to the demographer. Together, the founder of 32 newspapers, with a home near Oxford in West Chester, and the lone academic began the Scripps Foundation for Research in Population Problems in 1922 out of an obscure reading room in Miami University’s Alumni Library. For more than 40 years, the foundation led in the study of population and fertility. Then, with its faculty increasing their expertise in aging-related research, the new direction called for a new designation. In 1972, its name changed to the Scripps Gerontology Center. Now one of the nation’s top centers for research in aging, its mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of aging individuals, their families, and communities. Here are a few highlights of Scripps’ many accomplishments during its first 100 years.
Scripps Gerontology Center, one of the nation’s top centers for research in aging, is maturing gracefully as it celebrates its 100th birthday
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T H E M I A M I U N I V E R S I T Y S C R I P P S G E RO N TO LO GY C E N T E R A N D “ H I STO RY O F S CRIPPS GERO NTO LO GY C EN TE R: A L EG AC Y OF L E A D E RS HI P ” BY M I K E PAY N E M G S ’0 6
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