Koop Tells White House He’ll Leave Office in July

Dr. C. Everett Koop, whose campaigns against smoking and AIDS marked an often-controversial seven years as surgeon general, told President Bush today that he will leave office in July.

Koop, in a brief letter to the White House, said he had told Bush in February that he would not serve out his full second term, which ends in November. The surgeon general said he will leave July 13.

Koop, 72, was appointed the government’s top health officer by President Ronald Reagan, and was sworn into office in January, 1982.

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan applauded Koop’s work, saying he has been “a voice of honesty, integrity, compassion and plain good sense.”

‘Professionalism and Caring’

“There can be no doubt that during your term, America’s attitude toward tobacco use in particular has undergone fundamental change. And of course, in confronting the challenge of AIDS, you have set an example of professionalism and caring for all Americans,” Sullivan said in a letter to Koop.

Koop, in his letter to Bush, said James O. Mason, assistant secretary for health, will name an acting surgeon general after he leaves.

Koop was not available for comment. His office said he is on his way to a meeting of the World Health Organization in Geneva.

Koop did not say in the letter what his plans are after he leaves government. He has said in interviews that he would like to write books and work in television on health issues.

Under Koop’s leadership, the office of the surgeon general became an active and often controversial office.

He maintained a vigilant campaign against smoking, calling for a smokeless society by the year 2000 and worked actively on education campaigns aimed at helping to stop the spread of AIDS--acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

When he was nominated by Reagan for the post, Koop was an internationally known pediatric surgeon and was assailed by liberals for his staunch opposition to abortion and for lacking experience in public health.

Social conservatives embraced him initially. As time went on, however, they began to see him more as a traitor to their cause, particularly after he issued a report on the AIDS crisis and increasingly took to the airwaves to promote condoms, safe sex and sex education.