EDITORIAL

Leadership at its best

David L Turpin, Editor-in-Chief Seattle, Wash

n a crisp fall day in October more than 45 years ago, I wound my way through the upper campus of the University of Washington in search of the School of Dentistry. This was to be my rst face-to-face meeting with Alton W. Moore, the orthodontic department chair and a man who would inuence my professional life more than anyone else to follow. I was a rst lieutenant in the US Navy stationed at the amphibious base in Coronado, California, and had decided to specialize in orthodontics when I left military service. As I entered Dr Moores small ofce, I remember the welcome I received as if it were yesterday. His relatively small desk was covered with papers, and I noticed a small blue book pushed to the side entitled Vistas in Orthodontics, by Moore and Riedel. Luckily, I had reviewed this entire book just before my trip to Seattle, and I jumped at the opportunity to discuss several chapters. This allowed Dr Moore to launch into a discussion of dental research and what he hoped would become my passion during my education as a graduate student. I had recently published 2 articles in crown and bridge research at the University of Iowa while in dental school, so I felt quite at home in continuing the discussion of publications in a critically constructive way. Little did either of us know where that would eventually lead. I have since come to realize that Alton W. Moore was an inspiration to all kinds of folks who passed his way as residents and faculty members. I was not the rst or the last. If they were from a distant land, he encouraged them to return home and start an orthodontic department there. If already interested in teaching, he encouraged them to become a department chair or even dean of the dental school as a way to make change. He always encouraged his faculty members to join the Edward H. Angle Society, and, as soon as they did, he would ask when they planned to become board certied. After all, by serving as a director for both organizations, he had shown what commitment meant and would expect nothing but a positive response. That was leadership at its best.
Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 2008;133:1 0889-5406/$34.00 Copyright 2008 by the American Association of Orthodontists. doi:10.1016/j.ajodo.2007.11.013

As you will learn from the In memoriam in this issue, Dr Moore passed away on October 23 at the age of 91. Typical of responses received worldwide was this one from Professor Athanasios E. Athanasiou, president of the World Federation of Orthodontists, With tireless effort and expertise, Dr Moore served our specialty and significantly contributed to its progress. His vision and role model on orthodontic resident and faculty education was one of his many great achievements. From the start, Moores new postgraduate program in Seattle was different from many others of that era in that all students had immediate respect from the faculty. Everyone was on a rst-name basisinstructors and students alike, and we were taught that it was a privilege to learn. To show that trust was there from the top down, for the most part, there were no examinations in the department during the graduate program. In 1969, Al Moore obtained a major grant to train new educators after their orthodontic residencies. This led to the development of a 2-year curriculum that included courses in education and teaching methodology, resulting in a masters degree. This 7-year program produced several department chairs as well as full- and part-time educators for the specialty. While encouraging me to strive for the best in my rst poster presentation at an AAO meeting in New York, Al Moore brought humor to my life when we shared a cab ride into the city. In the taxi drivers determination to make this an enjoyable experience, he asked our reasons for the trip to New York and wondered about our relationship by saying, Are you two father and son? I beamed at the thought of having such an illustrious father, only to realize that Al Moore was speechless. It turned out that he had never before considered himself old enough to be the father of a graduate student. Of course, at 48 years of age, he certainly was! In fact, Al was a caring father and grandfather, once showing my class an 8-mm movie of his son, John, catching his rst pass in a school football game. John Moore, by the way, is now an orthodontist practicing in the medical/dental building in downtown Seattle, just like his father 50 years ago. We will all miss Alton Moore, but we are thankful that he touched and inuenced our lives.