Two months ago reports began to appear in the press that Mr. Newman was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. Many of those reports referred to him a “former chain smoker” with all the insinuations inherent in that label.

Mr. Newman was first and foremost a great man and we mourn his passing.

Over 215,000 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year, and the majority will die within 12 months. More people die from lung cancer than breast, prostate, colon, kidney, melanoma and liver cancers combined. Over half of them are former smokers many of whom quit decades ago and did not even realize that they will always be at higher risk. Another 15% have never smoked at all. Yet, the stigma and the blame associated with lung cancer, and the small number of people who survive to fight this, have made lung cancer the least funded of the major cancers in federal research dollars per death.