Background
Hilbert, Morton Shelly was born on January 3, 1917 in Pasadena, California, United States. Son of George Lewis and Mary (Shelly) Hilbert.
environmental and industrial health educator
Hilbert, Morton Shelly was born on January 3, 1917 in Pasadena, California, United States. Son of George Lewis and Mary (Shelly) Hilbert.
In 1940, Hilbert graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor"s degree in civil engineering and began his career as a public health official and field engineer in Michigan. He then enrolled in the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and in 1946 received his masters degree in Public Health.
He touched the lives of thousands of people throughout the United States, Europe, United States. Virgin Islands and developing nations where he helped develop public sanitation systems and sanitary public health-care facilities. Foreign 18 years he was director of the Environmental Health Department for Wayne County in the Detroit area. In 1954, he helped to relocate 1 million refugees in Vietnam.
In 1961, he returned to the University of Michigan as associate professor of environmental health.
In 1968, Hilbert was appointed chairman of Environmental Health for the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The department eventually became Environmental and Industrial Health, and Hilbert was the first chairman.
From 1962-1969, he was the chairman of the board of the His reports address a range of environmental heath issues such as care of laboratory animals, air pollution, and sanitation in hospitals. In 1968, Hilbert and the United States. Public Health Service organized the Human Ecology Symposium, an environmental conference for students to hear from scientists about the effects of environmental degradation on human health.
This was the beginning of Earth Day.
Foreign the next two years, Hilbert and students worked to plan the first Earth Day. In the spring of 1970—along with a federal proclamation from United States. Senator. Gaylord Nelson—the first Earth Day was held.
In 1975-1976 he served as the first elected president of the (American Pharmacists Association).
He was elected president of the in 1976 and focused his tenure on promoting the importance of prevention, rather than corrective action, in managing environmental health. Spanning the several decades of his career, he authored numerous articles on sanitation, disease prevention, housing, and the environment.
Through his consulting business, Hilbert worked in many different locations including the Virgin Islands, Thailand, Egypt, and Malaysia. After retiring from the University of Michigan in 1986, Hilbert and his family moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Hilbert was director of the European Office of the National Sanitation Foundation.
In 1992, he and his family moved to Bellevue, Washington.
Hilbert is remembered by students, colleagues, and especially his family, who continue to honor his legacy. In 2010, Stephen was keynote speaker celebrating Earth Day at Cascadia College in Bothell, Washington. Morton Hilbert"s work can be viewed at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan.
Recently, some have called for an increased awareness of Hilbert"s role in the founding of Earth Day.
He is referenced in the history of conservation and environmentalism movements in Michigan.
Fellow American Public Health Association (president), Engineering Society Detroit (president). Member American Public Works Association (president), American Academy Health Administrators (president), National Association Municipal Public Health Engineers (president), Michigan Public Health Association (president) Clubs: Exchange. Lodges: Lions.
Married Stephanie Ann Mayer, July 3, 1972. Children– Kathleen, Barbara, Stephen.