Former public health department chair dies after short illness

Former chair of the department of environmental and tropical health, and associate dean for the School of Public Health Elmer A. Widmer, PhD, died earlier this year.

Dr. Widmer was born near Dodge, North Dakota, on April 17, 1925, and died on February 20, 2007, in Lakeport, California.

Dr. Widmer earned his doctorate in zoology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1965, and a master of public health in parasitology and laboratory practice from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1974.

He was the fifth child born to his parents, who were German-Russian immigrants to the United States. His father’s family arrived in New York in 1901.

Dr. Widmer graduated from Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1951, and took a job teaching public school in nearby DeWitt.

He married his wife of 54 years, Eunice Mae Olson, in December 25, 1952.

Dr. Widmer is survived by his wife, Eunice; his children, daughter Andrea Barker of Turlock, California, and son, Kris Widmer, of Redding, California; five grandchildren, many nieces, nephews, and cousins, and many colleagues and friends.