Lendon Smith
| Lendon Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Lendon Howard Smith June 3, 1921 Portland, Oregon |
| Died | November 17, 2001 (aged 80) Portland, Oregon |
| Occupation | Pediatrician, author, television personality |
| Years active | 1963–2001 |
Lendon Howard Smith (June 3, 1921 – November 17, 2001) was an American OB/GYN, pediatrician, author, and television personality. He was notable for his advice on parenting and advocating children's health and eating issues. He was known to fans as "The Children's Doctor" for his expertise on the issues and an outspoken proponent of the use of vitamins for children.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Smith was a second generation doctor (his father was also a pediatrician), having received his M.D. in 1946 from the University of Oregon Medical School. He served as Captain in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1947–1949, went on to a pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri, and completed it at Portland's Doernbecher Memorial Hospital in 1951. In 1955, Smith became Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Oregon Medical Hospital. He would practice pediatrics for 35 years before retiring in 1987 to lecture, to write, and to continue to help make "megavitamin" a household word, even though it would be 10 years later that he would begin to use megavitamin therapy, in which he advocated the uses of Vitamin A and Vitamin C in massive amounts.
Smith was also among the first to caution against sugar, white flour, and junk food known to contribute to sickness, hyperactivity, obesity, allergies, and many illnesses in children and adults. He was also vocal about his feelings towards the use of vaccines and modern drugs: "Modern drugs and vaccines have proven to be a hoax in attaining health. They have brought false hopes......The vaccinations are not working, and they are dangerous.. We should be working with nature." He also argued against the use of experimental treatment in children with ADHD.
Smith was also a fixture on television, which is where he would received the nickname "The Children's Doctor", which was also the title of his 5-minute ABC daytime show that ran from 1967 to 1969. He also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson a record 62 times and on The Phil Donahue Show 20 times. But he would become more famous for appearing in a 1977 ABC Afterschool Special called My Mom's Having a Baby, about a 10-year-old boy's curiosity about how babies are born. The special proved to be popular with viewers and was awarded a Daytime Emmy. Smith would return in 1980 for the sequel Where Do Teenagers Come From?, which dealt with a 12-year-old girls' puberty. He also authored or co-authored more than 15 books, ranging from parenting and children's issues to nutrition.
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