Walter Lear

Walter Jay Lear (May 4, 1923 – May 29, 2010) was an American physician and activist for healthcare reform and LGBT rights. Among his contributions, Lear was a founder of the Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health and the Maternity Care Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. In 1964 Lear was also a founder of the Medical Community for Human Rights. He received the American Public Health Association's Helen Rodriguez-Trias Award for his contributions to the cause of social justice.

Early life and education Lear was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 4, 1923. He attended Harvard University, then known as Harvard College, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1943. He subsequently completed his medical degree at the Long Island College of Medicine in 1946. Lear completed his M.D. with the aid of the Army Specialized Training Program during World War II. In 1964, he moved to Philadelphia to become the city's first deputy health commissioner. He served in this role until 1971. Although he was already known to be gay doctor by his close friends and family, Lear had never publicly announced it before. Lear had been experiencing inner turmoil and conflict about whether he should reveal himself and his identity because of the social context of the time where such a controversial announcement was uncommon. After some internal and emotional reflection, he ultimately realized he was truly passionate about fighting for the equal rights and treatment of those in the LGBTQ+ community. From then, Lear was one of the first openly gay people to hold public offices in the city and state as the commissioner of health for Southeastern Pennsylvania. His career as a gay activist jumpstarted after his life-changing moment at the event at UPenn. In fact, he even founded Gay Caucus of the American Public Health Association that same year. Furthermore, Lear inadvertently became a national icon when a photo of him was taken when he went on strike against an American Medical Association conference in Atlantic City. He protested their segregationist policies and increased general public awareness of the unfair rules and regulations that targeted marginalized groups. Lear strongly emphasized the need for better health care for everyone, but especially better medical treatment for gays. As an agency that worked to chronicle the progress of health activism and offer guidance to other organizers of advocacy events, the Institute for Community Health and Social Medicine aimed to combine the work of social historians and community activists into a living collection and conglomeration of evidence. Lear guided and shaped this organization into being a special kind of documentation of the real time developments, progression, and radical changes, ensuring that social movements, but specifically healthcare reform for minority groups, had a solid historical foundation. His dream was to have future healthcare activists look back upon his collection and learn from the useful lessons in the past. His archived compilation of books, pamphlets, photos, interviews and other historical recordings of health activism, which is now housed at the University of Pennsylvania Library, keeps his memory and activism sentiments alive.

Eventually, Walter Lear died on May 29, 2010, due to multiple myeloma. However, his name lives on as Lear dedicated his life to fighting in the name of the poor and the persecuted, the sick and the scorned.

Personal life Lear was married to opera singer Evelyn Lear from 1945 to 1952, with whom he had two children. Later, Lear's life partner was James F. Payne, a relationship that began in 1953 and continued until the time of Lear's death.

Lear was a competitive amateur swimmer, having competed in the 75–80 age bracket in swimming at the Gay Olympics.

Late in his life, Lear increasingly turned his attention to the documentation of the history of medicine. He established fellowships on this subject through the U.S. Health Left History Center.

Lear established the U.S. Health Activism History Collection, which is housed at the University of Pennsylvania library, as of the time of Lear's death. The scope of the collection includes holdings on: health care and policy, medical reform efforts, poverty, civil rights, and women's health, and other special topics. The School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania also maintains a collection of Lear's papers and correspondence from the time period 1944 to 1964.