Dr. Nevin S Scrimshaw, a nutritionist, saw the devastating effects of malnutrition in children across the developing world beginning in the early 1950s.
Because milk and money were scarce in Latin America and India, Dr. Scrimshaw created cheap food for young children that would give them the nutrients they needed. He also emphasized the need to have sufficient amounts of iron and Vitamin A in a diet.
"The bottom line is that he is probably unchallenged as the most important nutrition scientist and nutrition leader in the world," said Irwin Rosenberg, chairman of the Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation at Tufts University.
Dr. Scrimshaw died of congestive heart failure on Friday at the age of 95. His findings are still the paradigm of nutritional health.