Dr. Roy L. Walford, the gerontology researcher whose work at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) led him to advocate the human practice of calorie restriction as an anti-aging intervention, a practice he himself adopted as a way of life, died on Tuesday, April 27 2004. His death was caused by complications of the rare disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig disease. In announcing Dr. Walford's death, Meredith Averill, chairman of the board of The Calorie Restriction (CR) Society spoke of the great debt of gratitude the Society owes to Dr. Walford: His groundbreaking research is the sole reason the Society exists. It is primarily an electronic bulletin board system for exchanging e-mail messages among those interested in the science of calorie restriction and its potential benefits. Brian M. Delaney, president of the CR Society added, Dr. Walford's death is a tremendous loss to all in the Society, to the scientific community, and to all humanity. He was not just a renowned researcher, but was a veritable Renaissance man, an artist, a thespian and producer, a journalist, and, to the very end, a poet, even after he lost the ability to grasp a pen in his own hand.

It was Dr. Walford's research that led to a rebirth of CR science. Prior to his teaching and research career at UCLA, many regarded the results of early CR studies in the 1930s as mere laboratory curiosities. This all changed when Dr. Walford began his career. Because of his work, CR became the primary model for investigating the aging process. Walford, along with students such as Dr. Richard Weindruch of the University of Wisconsin and numerous other colleagues around the world, made tremendous strides during three decades of research into unraveling the mysteries of biological aging and identifying the first steps towards intervening in the process.