Remembering Victor W. Sidel

Victor W. Sidel, MD, a founder and president of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a former co-president of IPPNW, and one of the world’s foremost experts on the medical consequences of nuclear war, died on January 30, 2018. Dr. Sidel was Chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx from 1969-1985. He then became Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine at Montefiore and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1985 he was elected President of the American Public Health Association.  He was the author of numerous books and articles about the human consequences of war, international health, and the impact of poverty and deprivation on health and well being, including War and Public Health and Terrorism and Public Health, both co-edited with long-time collaborator Barry Levy.

Vic Sidel started influencing my life years before I met him or would even recognize his name. The high school debate topic in 1965 was whether nuclear weapons should be controlled by an international organization. My debate team partner and I spent countless hours in the New York Public Library, compiling facts, expert opinions, and useful quotes on hundreds of 3×5 index cards. At some point we struck gold—a series of articles in a prominent medical journal about the effects of nuclear weapons. Not only did we have some powerful material for developing arguments in favor of nuclear arms control, but we came to dread the occasions when the luck of the draw forced us to make the case for the other side. How could anyone with half a conscience defend or even tolerate weapons that could incinerate entire cities of people in a matter of moments, we wondered.

Victor W. Sidel, of course, was one of the lead authors of those groundbreaking articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, and when we finally met in the 1980s, he became a mentor and a lifelong friend. For more than 25 years, Vic was the first person I called to make sure I had my facts and arguments straight. Vic demanded scientific accuracy, but more to the point, he knew instinctively that moral leadership on issues of peace, social justice, public health, and human rights required scientific accuracy. And he stood out as a moral leader and advocate for the best in humanity during a career that spanned some 60 years.

Vic was brilliant, determined, organized, fearless, and uncompromising in his stand against nuclear weapons, all forms of armed violence, and the injustices that are so often at the root of war. He was also an extraordinarily warm and gracious man, with a wonderful and mischievous sense of humor. He and his wife Ruth, from whom he was inseparable, welcomed delegations of IPPNW activists to their home whenever we came to the UN to lobby for nuclear disarmament or against trafficking in small arms and other weapons of war.

Tilman Ruff and I visited Vic last March, several months after Ruth’s untimely death and just a week or so before his family brought him to Colorado for what would be the last year of his full and remarkable life. We were able to tell him that the UN was on the verge of adopting a treaty banning nuclear weapons, and that his life’s work had created the foundation for this landmark achievement. My final memory of Vic is the look of joy on his face as we gave him that news. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Vic Sidel, working alongside him, and calling him my friend. He has my eternal love and respect.