Anti-Tobacco Activist Dr. Richmond Dies at 91

Bruce Weber of the New York Times reports that Dr. Jules B. Richmond, known for founding Project Head Start and campaigning against the tobacco industry, died Sunday. Here's an excerpt:

In his 80s, [Dr. Richmond] testified in two trials involving flight attendants that secondhand smoke was responsible for their ill health.

One of those cases, a class-action suit involving a flight attendant who developed lung cancer though she had never smoked, led to a $300 million settlement in 1997 that included starting a research institute to study tobacco-related diseases. In the second case, a class action on behalf of Florida smokers, a court awarded $145 billion in punitive damages against six tobacco companies, the largest such award in history until it was overturned by an appeals court.

ECB