Obituaries : Dr. Ralph Robert Sachs; Health Program Booster

Dr. Ralph Robert Sachs, 84, who spent his career in public health and was a major booster of the Visiting Nurse Assn. of Los Angeles. Educated at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, Sachs began practicing medicine in 1937 and retired about 40 years later as chief of chronic disease control of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. During his career, he led the Ford Foundation’s family planning program in India and Pakistan, worked with the World Health Organization in administering family planning activities and was director of health and welfare for the Atomic Energy Commission. He also worked for the city of Los Angeles and became executive officer of its Health Department. After his retirement, Sachs chaired the state Commission on Aging and was an active board member of the Visiting Nurse Assn. of Los Angeles and the Public Health Foundation. He helped the nurses’ group develop its hospice program, bereavement support program and assistance program for women with infants. The group recently named its hospice program in honor of him and his wife, Violet. On Friday in Los Angeles.