In Memoriam: Edward F. Maher
1950-2024
by Ray Guilmette and Liz Brackett
The Health Physics Society (HPS) has lost one of our best-known and distinguished members, HPS President Emeritus and Fellow Edward F. Maher, BS, MS, ScD, CHP, AAHP, FHPS. He passed away quietly on 26 July 2024 in his home surrounded by his loving family in Shirley, Massachusetts, after a valiant and prolonged battle with cancer.
Ed was born and raised in Littleton, Massachusetts, where he graduated from high school in 1967. He received a BS in electrical engineering from Lowell Technological Institute in 1971. Upon receiving his BS degree, Ed was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force (USAF) and entered active military service in 1973 after completing his MS degree in biomedical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. During his tenure in the Air Force, Ed earned a doctor of science (ScD) degree in 1985 in radiological protection and health from the Harvard School of Public Health, where he studied under HPS President Emeritus Dr. Dade Moeller and his research focused on radon measurement and mitigation in homes, aerosol science, and biostatistics.
Ed's career in the Air Force illustrates the breadth of his technical skills, his organizational and management acumen, and the honor and respect that he earned as an officer. Beginning as a project scientist in the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio (1973–1976), he studied ocular biological effects of ultra-short-pulsed lasers as well as broadband optical hazard sources, leading him to develop laser exposure standards for the USAF Surgeon General. At Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts (1976–1980), he was chief of environmental health services, providing industrial hygiene, environmental engineering, health physics, and public health services to community and acquisition centers on the base. After earning his ScD, he assumed a series of scientific and technical management positions within the USAF, ranging from specific facilities to service-wide responsibilities. From 1984 to 1994, Ed held positions as chief of several branches and divisions, including Nonionizing Radiation Branch, Radioanalytical Services Branch, Radiation Dosimetry Branch, Radiation Services Division, and Bioenvironmental Engineering Division. His technical duties included management of the safe use of external radiation sources, internal and external radiation dosimetry services, environmental, medical and occupational radiological protection consulting and field investigations, and many others. Concurrent with his technical responsibilities, Ed also was charged with the day-to-day management and supervision of personnel, facilities, and budgets associated with the various branches and divisions for which he was designated chief.
It is probably obvious that Ed's 20-year career in the USAF consisted of a steady progression of positions having increasing technical, scientific, and management/supervisory responsibilities. In fact, his most recent positions involved health physics and occupational safety support for USAF facilities worldwide, with staffing and budgets to match. His success led to serial promotions from second lieutenant through full colonel, a reflection of the USAF's recognition and appreciation of Ed's value added to the Service.
Following his retirement in 1994, Colonel Dr. Maher transitioned into civilian life by taking a series of management positions with several radiation technology companies in which he was able to combine his technical, supervisory, management, and leadership skills, in furtherance of the various company objectives with which he became associated. At Arthur D. Little Inc., he was associate director of the Occupational Safety and Health Directorate, responsible for health physics and occupational safety business development as well as supervising the company's health and safety professionals.
In 1997, he became director of the Environmental Laboratory for the Yankee Atomic Electric Company, where he managed the ongoing environmental, radioanalytical, internal, and external dosimetry programs for the reactors under the company's stewardship. From 2002 to 2004, Ed was supervisor of the Environmental Health and Safety Group for Framatome-ANP DE&S, where he managed the professional staff and business-development activities of Framatome in health physics, health and safety, and environmental engineering.
In 2004, Ed joined Dade Moeller & Associates, an NV5 Company, where he retired in 2020. He was manager of the Dose Estimation and Reporting Task pertaining to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), very important support that he provided to the federal manager of EEOICPA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Although the above represents a significant fraction of Ed's body of work post USAF, it is by no means all of it. Ed's service to the health physics profession has included many roles within the HPS as well as participation in consensus scientific committees. He became a certified health physicist in 1986 and immediately became involved in the certification process. From 1987 to 1992 he served on the American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) Panel of Examiners. He chaired the Comprehensive Part II Panel of Examiners in 1992; this is a position with a great deal of responsibility and, often, insufficient recognition for the personal commitment of time. A short time later he served on the Board, progressing from Board member to parliamentarian, secretary, vice chair, and chair. During his tenure, the Board was seeking accreditation by the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards and Ed undertook the task of revising and reformatting the ABHP Policy and Procedures Manuals to meet the requirements for accreditation while ensuring that the intent of Board policies and procedures were maintained. He was awarded the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP) William McAdams Outstanding Service Award in 2004.
After several years of service to the ABHP/AAHP, Ed volunteered his time to the HPS. He served as president of the New England Chapter and was named a Fellow of the Society. He received the John Taschner Leadership Award from the Military Section in 2015. His leadership in the HPS included terms as Board director (1999–2002), secretary (2002–2005), president-elect, president, and past president (2009–2011).
Ed was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Research Directions in Human Biological Effects of Low-Level Ionizing Radiation, which provided a guidance report to the US Department of Defense Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute for future research directions. He was also a member of SC-82 of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements "Control of Radon in Houses." Ed authored or coauthored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, symposia proceedings, and reference book chapters.
Clearly, Ed Maher had a long and productive life and career. His service to his country in the USAF showed his scientific acumen in radiation protection as well as other areas of occupational safety, and he was able to leverage his innate people skills into effective management growth experiences during his 20-year career. Likewise, after he retired, Ed was able to use his military management skills in several important roles in the commercial sector. His contributions to the Health Physics Society and the American Academy of Health Physics were useful, important, and well recognized by his peers.
Above all else, Ed was a dedicated family man and enjoyed life to its fullest. Louise, his wife of 52 years, often accompanied him on trips to HPS meetings. He loved his daughters, Molly and Rebecca, and went to all their dance recitals, cheer competitions, color guard meets, and so much more. He also took great pride in his five grandchildren.
He will be missed by many, some of whom have shared their personal remembrances with us:
Ray and Pat Guilmette
Pat and I are very sad that our good friend Ed Maher has passed away. We have been good friends for over 20 years and will miss him very much. We all met originally while I was HPS president and Ed was secretary. At our spring Executive Committee (EC) meeting in Portland, Maine, Pat and I got to know Ed and Louise quite well, realizing that we had a lot in common. For example, when the EC had a group harbor cruise in Portland, Louise and Pat had such a good time together, chatting and laughing (loudly!!), that the captain of the boat threatened to take us back to shore (he didn't). Thus began the saga of "Thelma and Louise, HPS style." Our friendship continued over the years, whenever we all attended the same HPS meetings. Later, when we had all retired and Pat and I had moved to Downeast Maine, we got reacquainted with Ed and Louise, who were in Massachusetts but about to relocate to Scarborough, Maine. This provided us the opportunity to get together often on short minivacations together throughout New England, including Bar Harbor, Provincetown, Camden, and Moosehead Lake. Our mutual love of each others' company, food, drink, new places, and just being together made memories that will last forever. It's also good when you learn something new, e.g., Whistle Pig is not a cartoon character (Thanks, Ed!).
Even though Ed is gone, we will always have his sparkling eyes, Irish smile, and humor, as Thelma and Louise and Ray carry on.
Liz Brackett
I don't really remember my first encounter with Ed (which is surprising given his large personality), but in reviewing his various bios, it would have been in the late 1990s when the ABHP was seeking accreditation by the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards, and we were both involved in the effort. We bonded over our Massachusetts origins (although only he had the "wicked" accent) and dedication to health physics volunteer activities. We continued to overlap in various roles in the AAHP and then onto HPS – he encouraged me to accept chairmanship of the Program Committee and eventually I was an HPS director when he was president. Health physics being a very small community, we became coworkers in 2004. I was in a meeting with leadership from three companies that formed a partnership, and the need for a new section manager was being discussed. One of the company presidents said he had just hired Ed and proposed him for the position. I immediately blurted out, "Ed would be great!" which was unfortunate because my company had wanted to fill the position... Fortunately, it worked out because everyone ended up loving him. Ed had no filter – whatever popped into his head immediately popped out of his mouth. It wasn't always complimentary (he told me several times that I had a "big ego") but it was never meant maliciously. He often joked about being sent to "charm school" when he was elected HPS president. For you older folks ??, he reminded me of the comedian Norm Crosby, who was referred to as the "Master of Malaprop" (and Ed had the accent to go with it) – he'd have us laughing in meetings because of his mispronunciations and use of the wrong words. We greatly miss him and reminisce about his many entertaining mangled aphorisms.
Joel D. Arana, CHP
Dr. Ed Maher was my manager on the NIOSH Project and at Dade Moeller/NV5 for many years, and I got to know Ed very well. In addition to being a great person and manager (albeit tough at times!), Ed was a doting father and grandfather and was the first one to send us personalized gift baskets when both of our kids were born. Well-spoken, and with a vocabulary second-to-none, Ed had a very dry and charismatic sense of humor that always kept the team on their toes all-the-while smiling. We always looked forward to Ed's annual family newsletter around the holidays telling us of all the exploits that he, his wife Louise, and their daughters/granddaughters were up to. Ed always took great care of me and our team, and we spent many nights in Cincinnati and elsewhere playing cards, going us to nice restaurants, and just hanging out and shooting the breeze. As a past HPS president, corporate and project manager, Harvard professor, and just a solid guy, Ed will be dearly missed by all that knew him, especially our family.
Raychelle Brown
Dr. Ed Maher was my manager on the NIOSH Project and a great friend. Ed had such a big heart and a great sense of humor. He would bring me Starbucks every day whenever he worked in the Cincinnati office. I will miss Ed dearly and will always cherish the wonderful friendship we had and the great advice he always gave.
Dick Burk
I have been fortunate to have been able to serve 37 different presidents in the Society, all with their 37 different personalities, 37 different skill sets, 37 differing ideas on the proper direction for the Society. It was a most enjoyable trip.
I find it difficult for me to reveal too much about each president, their early involvements in the various committees and assignments before becoming prez-elect/prez/past prez. They all were very different and they all needed just a bit of nudging and reminders to direct their considerable talents and energies to the well-being of the Society. The stories, for the most part, are just between me and the presidents.
With all that in mind, I will say this concerning Ed: the consummate gentleman, kind and gentle (unless you stretched the truth and then you were summarily chopped off at the knees), excellent skill sets for the Society, coming in part I suspect from his service as a colonel in the Air Force. It was such a pleasure being able to personally interact with Ed and Louise during his presidency tenure.
Vickie Short
I had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Dr. Ed Maher in 2004 while working on the NIOSH Project. Ed may have been the most honest, sincere person I've ever met. He was a husband, father, and grandfather who cherished his family. He was a great friend who frequently checked on me after the passing of my husband. Ed knew how to carry a room and have everyone rolling in laughter; his Ed-isms will go down in history. He generously shared stories about his mother's military service, his children from birth to adulthood, and the many great adventures he shared with his wife Louise. He never failed to share photos of his grandchildren and stories of the memories they created. While Ed was certainly an accomplished professional from his time in the Air Force, to teaching at Harvard, to tirelessly working to establish many of the processes that have made the NIOSH Project successful, he was also an amazing friend. Thank you, Ed, for sharing your zest for life and family with all of us. Thinking of you often with love.
Dale Thomas
I first met Ed in the fall of 1992 when I left the US Army and was hired as a health physicist at the Occupational and Environmental Health Division of the Armstrong Laboratory at Brooks Air Force Base. Ed was our division chief and I was able to work closely with him until he retired in 1994. He was an outstanding leader who garnered the respect and admiration of his subordinates and superiors alike. His leadership style and team-building expertise created an environment in which I regard as the most positive professional growth period of my career. His passing is a great loss not only to his family, but to his many friends, his professional colleagues, and the field of health physics.
Chris Martel
Ed was a rare leader who could be both my manager and my friend. As my manager, he held me accountable and let me know in no uncertain terms when he expected better from me, but even when I thought he was angry he always let me know he never stopped being my friend and remained my mentor. What I remember most is his subdued little laugh and turn of a phrase using some military references, which gave him a quality of warmth, humor, and realness that I wanted to be around, and I cherished every moment I shared with Ed.
Matt McFee
I met Ed through his association with the NIOSH dose reconstruction project, which he joined a few years into the project (2004-ish I think). He was a no-nonsense, very direct individual who usually said what he thought before his brain had time to filter it. Incredibly bright, and with the Air Force model of managing, he did a great job of herding the health physicists under his purview into a well-oiled machine, producing dose reconstructions at an amazing pace. That was the business side of Ed (and others are likely in a much better position to comment on that). But Ed had an amazing personality as well – brash and unapologetic, but also respectful and as hard on himself as he seemed to be on others at times. His use of the English language was amazing, in some cases because he could succinctly sum up a business issue in a non-business way ("The way to solve the cannibal problem is to send in more missionaries" when talking about a resource issue at work). In some cases, though, it was because he couldn't quite get the right words to come out (I'm reminded of a meeting where one of his staff was not present, or "AWOL" in military slang, but Ed kept insisting the person was "AOL." He could tell that wasn't quite right but couldn't quite pin down that "W" in the moment). We literally named his penchant for pithy/humorous sayings as "Ed-isms" and there was a record being kept – yes, there were that many – but it appears that list has been lost to posterity. Many of the folks who traveled to Cincinnati to work on the NIOSH project stayed in a local B&B that had been leased for us. Ed stayed there whenever he was in town, so I (we all!) got to spend leisure time around Ed as well. He was a great storyteller (in part because of his Ed-isms), but he had a ton of life experience to share about his family, the Air Force, rad protection, good Irish whiskey, fishing, and more. He loved his Red Sox to a fault, and the Patriots as well – I hate to break it to Louise (she may already know) but if Tom Brady had been available I, for one, was convinced Ed would have married him. One of my favorite stories about Ed happened when he was staying at the B&B with no one else staying there that particular night. Ed swears that he was awakened from sleep by someone pounding on his bedroom door, and to hear Ed explain how he handled the situation ("I pulled the covers up over my head and hoped it would stop!") cracks me up. And Ed had to tell us that, and he wasn't ashamed to tell us that – he knew a good story when he heard it! I'll miss him deeply, but every once in a while, I'll remember something he said, and I'll hear him saying it in my head, and it makes me smile. That's a good way to be remembered.
Dave Allard
As both Chris Martel and I recall, Ed had an absolutely stellar professional career, and those us who worked with Ed at Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, know first-hand what an outstanding HP and manager he was. When the ADL Radiation Protection Group (RPG) was in need of a group leader in 1994, they were very fortunate that Colonel Maher had just retired from active military service. At the time, ADL had a contract with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for support of Environmental Safety and Health audits and oversight of its national labs, research centers, weapons complex, cleanup operations, and accelerator facilities. Given the use of radioactive materials and radiation-generating devices in DOE, the RPG was always part of audits and assessments. These could require a few weeks of document review and prep, several weeks of onsite inspection, and weeks of report drafting, review, and closeout. As intense as these reviews were, with long hours on-site and travel – it was essential that the audit team had good leadership. As the RPG's new manager, Ed was a perfect fit for the job. I recall one memorable DOE audit where Ed led a small team to review the regulatory and environmental paperwork and actual physical closures of most of DOE's offsite nuclear device shot locations. Most of these were associated with the Plowshare Program, and the small team of DOE and ADL experts (with an inch thick stack of airline flight segments) hit the ground running at DOE's office in Nevada. We didn't go to Mississippi or Alaska, but did get to all the sites in Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado. Some were in dry desert areas, and many on top of mountains. No soil sampling was done, but a basic radiation survey was performed to ensure no residual radioactive material was present at surface ground zero. Through it all, Ed kept the team focused and moving and, best of all, laughing hard! Next to his sharp mind, his wonderful wife and family, Ed's dry sense of humor was one of his greatest assets. It was always nice to see Ed at HPS meetings or visit with him during Harvard School of Public Health courses. We'll miss Ed and his quick and zany humor!