It is high privilege to participate in a ceremony in which the American Academy of Pediatrics honors the memory of one of its founders and most illustrious Fellows. The C. Anderson Aldrich Award for 1973 is presented to Dr. Gunnar Dybwad, Professor of Human Development at the Florence Heller Graduate School of Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University. The Award is made for Dr. Dybwad's contributions to the development of children, particularly those with mental retardation. Inherent in his choice as awardee by the Section on Child Development of the Academy is recognition of mental retardation as a disability in development, one that is subject to change with time, either amelioration or deterioration, depending in a major way on the child's social surroundings. It is to these latter that Dr. Gunnar Dybwad has particularly addressed himself.
For the benefit of younger members and guests of the Academy, a few biographical notes seem in order about Dr. Aldrich who died 25 years ago. Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1888, Dr. Aldrich received his early education in Boston and New York; his college and medical school degrees at Northwestern University. After general practice in Winnetka, Illinois, for five years, he limited his practice to pediatrics. While in practice, he worked at the Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago rising to a full Professorship at Northwestern University, and succeeding Dr. Joseph Brenneman in 1941 as Chief of Staff at the Children's Memorial Hospital. In 1944 he moved to Rochester, Minnesota, and founded the Rochester Child Health Institute, interested in research on the development of normal infants and children and in a program of delivery of child care to an entire community.