Edwards’ contributions to health in Nevada remembered

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 | 9:06 a.m.

The work Dr. William McEwen Edwards Jr. did 30 years ago is still being felt statewide.

As Nevada state health officer from 1969 to 1980, he wrote the testing procedures for acupuncture that are still used today and created rules for examination of prostitutes that have kept Nevada's brothel industry disease-free.

A quiet and unassuming man, his death last year at age 85 went pretty much unnoticed. The family said it did not instruct the mortuary to issue a death notice.

However, after receiving inquiries from colleagues and friends, his family late last week issued a formal notice for the one-year anniversary of his death on Feb. 3, 2003, in Sparks.

"The things my father did, from supporting programs that fed the poor to keeping brothels disease-free to speaking before the Legislature on numerous issues affected Nevadans statewide," said Jean Edwards Muir, a fisheries biologist and blueberry farmer in Hillsboro, Ore.

"He was creative and brilliant, but he also was self-effacing and very quiet. And he also could be very persuasive."

Although he was not a supporter of prostitution and was a skeptic of the 5,000-year-old Chinese health methods, including acupuncture, Edwards put aside his personal feelings to set standards to make brothels safe and to create the guidelines for the State Board of Oriental Medicine.

He had come to Nevada in 1963, running a small cattle ranch and alfalfa farm in Smith Valley and working for the Nevada State Health Division in Carson City, where he was chief of Crippled Children's Services and Community Health Services and the state epidemiologist.

He also was chief of the Nevada State Industrial Commission's medical department and chairman of the Board of Oriental Medicine.

In 1971 Edwards married his second wife, child psychologist Joan Foster of Sparks, who at the time was head of special children's services for the state. She survives him.

In his later years, Edwards supported the Assistance League of Reno-Sparks, specifically with two programs: Food Pantry to feed the poor and School Bell to provide new clothing for poor children.

In addition to his daughter and wife, he is survived by another daughter, Joan Engdahl of Walnut Creek, Calif.; a son, Jim Edwards of Reno; and two grandchildren.

The family said donations can be made in memory of Dr. William M. Edwards Jr. to the Assistance League of Reno-Sparks, 1701 Vassar Street, Reno NV 89502.