A tribute to Dr. Roy L. Walford by Warren Taylor

Dr. Roy L. Walford, prominent researcher and prolific author in the anti-aging science of calorie restriction, died on Tuesday 27 April 2004 from complications of a rare genetic disease known as ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). ALS is an inherited disorder resulting in progressive deterioration of the motor-neurons that is always fatal. There is no known cure, with the end result always culminating in muscle wasting and death.

Roy's passing is a tremendous loss to the scientific community as well as for all humanity. Roy was a renowned researcher who showed the world what a Renaissance man can achieve during the course of a lifetime. Even to the very end, there remained a vigorous flow of productivity despite the absence of a pen that he could not grasp in his own hand.

The Calorie Restriction Society (also known as "The CR Society") owes a debt of gratitude to Roy that can scarcely be expressed. He did the ground-breaking research upon which the Society exists today. And he attended the kick-off organizational meeting marking the birth of the CR Society nearly a decade prior to his death. In December 1994, Roy and his daughter Lisa met together with current Society President Brian Manning Delaney and three other founders to establish the CR Society as an electronic bulleting board system (eBBS) for exchanging email messages among its members.

Today, The Calorie Restriction Society is a worldwide organization with nearly 2000 members that focuses attention on the "CR diet", the most heavily researched diet in history -- and the most healthy diet known in history -- proven by 70 years of laboratory experiments to extend both the maximum years of life, and the maximum years of health, a unique claim that no other diet can make.

The Calorie Restriction Society home on the Internet is at www.calorierestriction.org. It serves the public as an open-membership organization registered as a US 501(c)(3) charitable institution. The Society enthusiastically carries on the work that Dr. Roy Walford spearheaded during his prolific lifetime of research and discovery.

It was Dr. Roy Walford's research at UCLA that led to a rebirth of CR science, and to the birth of The CR Society. Prior to Roy's beginning his teaching and research career at UCLA, the results of early CR studies in the 1930s were regarded by many as mere laboratory curiosity. This all changed when Roy came on board.

>From the impetus of his work, CR became the primary model for investigating the aging process. Walford, along with students such as Dr. Rick Weindruch and numerous other colleagues around the world, made tremendous strides during 3 decades of research into unraveling the mysteries of aging.

Moreover, for what may be the greatest tribute of all, Roy was bold enough to try out the anti-aging CR diet on himself, and to encourage others to do the same. Roy helped to make his life work accessible to the common person by collaborating with daughter Lisa to write 4 inspiring "howto" books that have became the standard reference works. These primers serve as instruction manuals on how to live the basics of a calorie restricted lifestyle centering on health and longevity.

To further buttress his emphasis on the practical, making the diet suitable for human application, Walford designed special nutritional analysis software to safeguard personal health. His nutrition software, known as "Dr. Walford's Interactive Dietary Planner" (DWIDP) could assure adequate and even improved nutrition, guaranteeing that the healthiest diet known to science today could also become the healthiest diet that humans could practice today.

As to what his death means for human practice of CR, Roy himself stated that he was but a "one rat" experiment. Whether he lived a long life, or whether he was taken prematurely, that fact meant next to nothing. As Roy explained about the ALS condition that he inherited, the cause of his death was unrelated to his practice of CR. And having lived to almost 80 years old, the CR lifestyle that he espoused may have in fact slowed down the progression of his genetic illness, thus allowing his unusually long and productive work to continue. Perhaps in fitting tribute to both Roy's strength and the benefits of the CR diet, he very greatly exceeded the life expectancy of those diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.

The CR Society is dedicated to furthering the work of Roy's exemplary life by continuing to make the benefits of laboratory longevity research available to the common person. If there is one prominent memory that helps to energize the Calorie Restriction Movement and the CR Society itself, it is the memory of Roy Walford, and the quality research that he did, the quality life that he lived, and the quality books of instruction that he wrote.

For immediate release, Wed 28 Apr 2004

The Calorie Restriction Society 1827 W. 145th St, Suite 205 Gardena, CA 90249 TEL: 310-329-6510 FAX: 310-329-6510 (Call ahead, before transmission) wtaylor@calorierestriction.org secretary@calorierestriction.org