CHAPTER XLI 

 HON. HOMER FOLKS, LL.D. 



PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION FROM IQI2 TO IQI3 



TRUE to its intention not to be exclusively a medical so- 

 ciety, the National Tuberculosis Association, at the meet- 

 ing in 1912, elected for its eighth president a layman, Mr. 

 Homer Folks, and the choice was indeed a happy one. He had 

 already served the Association as vice-president from 1908 to 

 1909. 



Among the lay members of the society perhaps no one has 

 done more constructive work in the tuberculosis campaign in 

 the United States than Mr. Homer Folks. He was born Febru- 

 ary 1 8, 1867, in Hanover, Mich., graduated with the degree of 

 A.B. from Albion College in 1889, and from Harvard with the 

 same degree in 1890. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon 

 him by Albion College and also by Ohio Wesleyan University in 

 1911. 



Mr. Folks was one of the first of what is now a large group of 

 university men who have chosen the field of social work as a 

 career. In August of 1890 he became General Superintendent 

 of the Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania, with headquarters 

 in Philadelphia. In February, 1893, he accepted the secretary- 

 ship of the New York State Charities Aid Association, an unoffi- 

 cial organization working for the improvement of public charities 

 and public health in New York State. This position he has 

 since held, except during his term of office as Commissioner of 

 Public Charities of New York city, and during his service abroad 

 with the American Red Cross. 



As secretary and chief executive officer of this Association, Mr. 

 Folks has taken an active part in organized movements for the 

 improvement of public institutions and the promotion of public 

 health in the city and state of New York since 1893. Among 

 these were the establishment of the Craig Colony for Epileptics, 



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