Edwards, Charles Cornell, M.D. 1923-2011

EDWARDS, ARENDT, KRUIDENIER, SCHNED, VAUGHAN, INGHAM

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 6/10/2024 at 18:48:16

Charles Edwards
1923 - 2011
La Jolla, CA

ABOUT
Princeton University
University of Colorado
University of Minnesota

Charles Cornell Edwards was born in Overton, Nebraska on September 16, 1923, son of Charles Busby Edwards, a country doctor, and Lillian Mae (Arendt) Edwards. A beloved husband, father, grandfather, and distinguished physician, public servant, and medical administrator, he passed away August 7, 2011, at his home in La Jolla, California, after a long illness.

Dr. Edwards was educated at Princeton University and the University of Colorado (B. A. and M.D. degree, 1948). His surgical residency and Mayo Foundation Fellowship at the University of Minnesota was interrupted from 1950-52 when he served with the U.S. Marines in a battlefield surgical unit during the Korean War. Returning to Minnesota, he received his M.S. in surgery (1956). After five years in private practice in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1961 he was appointed to the surgical faculty at Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C., and also worked for a short time with the CIA. He moved to Chicago in 1962 to join the American Medical Association, and in 1967, became an executive of the management firm Booz, Allen, and Hamilton. In 1969, President Nixon appointed him Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; under his leadership, the FDA expanded its mission to include regulation of biologics and radiological health, while also addressing major food and drug safety issues. In 1971, he became Assistant Secretary for Health (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare), where he reorganized the Public Health Service, gave greater standing to the Centers for Disease Control, and proposed major reforms in the national health care system. In 1975, Dr. Edwards resigned from his position citing the Ford administration's decision to make cuts in health care adversely affecting the poor and unemployed.

In 1977, Charles Edwards was appointed president and CEO of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California. During his tenure, The Scripps Research Institute became the largest private biomedical research institution in the nation, and in 1991, Dr. Edwards oversaw the creation of Scripps Institutions of Medicine and Science which is today one of the largest employers in San Diego and a leading health care provider in California. With his wife, he was a generous benefactor to many nonprofit institutions, and was a strong proponent of philanthropy and community service.

Dr. Edwards was predeceased by his brother Keith Edwards. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Sue Kruidenier Edwards; their four children, Timothy Kruidenier Edwards (Pat), Charles Cornell Edwards, Jr. (Karin), Nancy Edwards Schned (Eric), David Busby Edwards (Marketa); grandchildren Scott Edwards, Hayley Vaughan, Emily Edwards Ingham, Molly Schned, Dan Schned, Alex Schned, Nick Edwards, and Melody Edwards; and his cousin Cornell Arendt.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to San Diego Hospice (www.sdhospice.org) or Voices for Children - San Diego (www.speakupnow.org).
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by the Des Moines Register from Aug. 18 to Aug. 21, 2011.