Dr. George M. Lawton
Dr. George M. Lawton, a retired Lab medical director, died Sept. 11, at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, Va. He was 84.
Born Dec. 18, 1927, in Lowell, Mich. to Walter and Gladys Lawton, he graduated from Michigan State University in 1954 with a premedical bachelor's degree and obtained his M.D. from Wayne State University in 1958.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1957-78 in various capacities, including a rotating internship at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Pensacola Fla., senior medical officer for the U.S.S. Nereus in San Diego, a residency in occupational medicine at the Kettering Laboratory and the U.S. Public Health Service Research and Training Facility in Cincinnati Ohio, senior medical officer and director of Environmental Health Center at NAD Crane, Ind., director of the Occupational Environmental Health Division and Deputy Director of the Occupational and Preventive Medicine Division for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C.
For his service in the Navy, he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal in 1970, and the Meritorious Service Award in 1978.
He was a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, American Conference of Industrial Hygienists, American Medical Association, American Occupational Medical Association, American Academy of Occupational Medicine, Academy of Kettering Fellows and Society of Occupational and Environmental Health.
In 1976, he received the Gorgas Medal for outstanding service in preventive medicine by the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. In 1986, the Navy Environmental Health Center inaugurated a lecture series in his name for recognition of his contribution as an outstanding pioneer in the Navy's Occupational Health Program. In 1989, the Navy Environmental Health Center in Norfolk, Va. dedicated its new building in his name.
After retiring from the Navy, he served as the medical director for JRB Associates in McLean, Va., associate clinical professor of medicine for UC San Francisco. Lawton was the medical director at LLNL, joining the Lab in 1982 and retiring in 1989.
After retirement, he moved to his farm in Luray, Va. where he was an active member of the Christ Episcopal Church, Luray Rotary Club Tuesday Night Supper Club, and a founding member of the regional center for the Performing Arts of Luray.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara; sister, Damaris; son,s Walter, Evert, and John; stepchildren, Anne, Virginia, and William; 22 grandchildren; and 10 great grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at the Christ Episcopal Church in Luray, Va. at 11 a.m. on, Sept. 15. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Performing Arts of Luray.
