Matthew Huxley (19 April 1920 – 10 February 2005) was an

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evid ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

, as well as an educator and author. His work ranged from promoting

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

to establishing standards of care for nursing home patients and the mentally ill to investigating the question of what is a socially sanctionable drug.

Background

Huxley was born in London as the son of British author

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

and his Belgian wife Maria Nijs. He was educated at

Dartington Hall School Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "o ...

. Resettling in the United States with his father in 1937, Huxley attended the

Fountain Valley School of Colorado The Fountain Valley School of Colorado is a private, co-educational independent college preparatory school for students in 9th through 12th grades. The school's primary campus is located on of rolling prairie at the base of the Rocky Mountains in ...

and graduated from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

. He received a master's degree in public health from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. He worked for the

Milbank Memorial Fund The ''Milbank Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed healthcare journal covering health care policy. It was established in 1923 and is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the Milbank Memorial Fund, an endowed national foundation funded ...

, a New York-based foundation, and from 1963 to 1983, with a brief intermission, worked at the

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the prima ...

in Washington. In 1968, he briefly served as director of seminars at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

. In April 1950 Huxley married Ellen Hovde, a documentary filmmaker. The couple had two children, Trevenen Huxley (b. 20 October 1951) and Tessa Huxley (b. October 1953), and divorced in 1961. On 22 March 1963 he wed Judith Wallet Bordage, a freelance writer and food columnist at the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

''; she died in 1983. He then married Franziska Reed in 1986, who survived him. Huxley died of cardiac shock in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

, in February 2005 at the age of 84.

Publications

References

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

1920 births 2005 deaths Harvard School of Public Health alumni People educated at Dartington Hall School University of California, Berkeley alumni British emigrants to the United States {{US-scientist-stub