Edmund Pellegrino, Medical Ethicist

Edmund Pellegrino, M.D., who served as the president of the Catholic University of America from 1978 to 1982, passed away on June 13 at the age of 92. During Pellegrino’s tenure as the university’s 11th president, Pope John Paul II made his historic visit to the campus in 1979 and addressed Catholic educators. Born on June 22, 1920, Pellegrino was a graduate of St. John’s University and New York University. He published more than 600 articles and chapters and 23 books on medical science, philosophy and ethics. His research interests included the history and philosophy of medicine, professional ethics and the physician-patient relationship. Pellegrino was the founding editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and the founding director of Georgetown University’s Center for Clinical Bioethics. He served as the John Carroll Professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics and director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Ethics at Georgetown University and as chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics under former U.S. President George W. Bush.