Co-Editor in Chief Lucier Retires

Public service. It's a term that has fallen into disregard in recent years as cynicism has replaced optimism about so-called government work and those who do it. Yet there are those who have chosen to follow the ideal of public service espoused by John F. Kennedy when he said "[A]sk not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.` One of these people is George W. Lucier, an environmental health research pioneer and coeditor in chief of this journal for the past 28 years. In 1970, Lucier chose to devote his intellectual talents to a career in science at a federal research institution, the NIEHS. What developed over the next 30 years of his career was a series of contributions to public health that reached beyond national boundaries. At the end ofJune, Lucier officially retired from his position as director of the Environmental Toxicology Program, the NIEHS program that executes the work of the National Toxicology Program (NTP), and as co-editor in chief of EHP. But the consequences of his leadership and life's work continue to be felt far beyond the epicenter of his career. Lucier began his career by helping to mold basic science into tools for solving the complex problems created by an industrial society's impact on the natural world and human health. This work has been concentrated