Leland Fairbanks, Arizona physician who pioneered smoke-free policies, dies at 94

When Dr. Leland Fairbanks began his public crusade against tobacco, it was common for doctors, nurses and patients to smoke inside hospitals.
Fairbanks, who died Jan. 21 at 94, was a key figure in fighting for landmark smoking bans across the state at a time when smoking indoors, even in hospitals, was a social norm.
"He was a force of nature, really, on tobacco control," said Will Humble, who is executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association. "He set a good example for what you can accomplish in a life."
In his later years, Fairbanks would introduce himself as "an old country doctor" when he attended public health conferences and gatherings, but that label undersold his public health achievements.
In 1983, when he was an Indian Health Service physician working on the Hopi reservation, Fairbanks pushed for a smoking ban at Keams Canyon Hospital. It became the first smoke-free hospital in the United States, according to the IHS.
"Back then you would often have physicians smoking right alongside their patients in the hospital. And the nurses, a lot of them smoked," said Philip Carpenter, executive director of the nonprofit Arizonans Concerned About Smoking, which announced Fairbanks' death this week.
"I think he realized that, wait a minute, this is a hospital, and if there's any place that you should have clean, smoke-free air it's when you are in a rehabilitative facility."
During the debate over going smoke-free at the Keams Canyon Hospital, "they predicted doctors and nurses would resign, but they didn't," Fairbanks told The Arizona Republic in a 2002 interview.
When federal officials wanted to add a smoking room to the hospital, Fairbanks said if they were going to force the issue, the smoking room would have to be in the morgue. "They dropped the issue," he told The Republic.
In 2002, Fairbanks helped convince voters in Tempe to pass what was then the state's strictest smoking ban. And in 2006, when he was in his 70s, he was a driving force in getting voters to pass the Smoke-Free Arizona Act, a voter initiative that has been credited with triggering a steep decline in smoking rates statewide.
The Smoke-Free Arizona law, which went into effect in 2007, prohibits smoking in most enclosed public places and workplaces.
"It was one of those things where the Dems would propose a Smoke-Free Arizona Act every year and it would never even get a hearing, over and over. Then the (American) Lung Association and Dr. Fairbanks, were like, 'OK, we're just going to put it on the ballot,' and they collected the signatures and defeated the challengers," Humble said.
Humble recalled seeing Fairbanks standing outside that summer, when the temperature was over 100 degrees, pounding rebar into the ground with a sledgehammer to put up a Smoke-Free Arizona Act campaign sign.
"He wasn't just talking the talk. He was walking the walk," Humble said. "He was a pure soul. There was nothing fake about him. He cared about people."
Carpenter first met Fairbanks in 2001 after reading an article about Fairbanks' effort to pass the smoking ban in Tempe.
"The next thing you know, I'm a volunteer collecting signatures. ... It did have some pretty stiff opposition from the bar owners," Carpenter said. "For it to happen in a college town was truly remarkable. I moved here in March of 1994 and I can remember going down to Mill Avenue like on a weekend and every place was just full of smoke — the bars, the restaurants."
Some of Fairbanks' foes dubbed him a "tobacco terrorist" and a "Taliban health czar"; many supporters called him the "Energizer Bunny" for his drive and work ethic.
He was a frequent presence at the Arizona Capitol. More recently, Fairbanks was focused on the harms of vaping, Carpenter said.
"He has a hat that said, 'No Smoking, No Vaping'. He would wear that hat all the time, " Carpenter said.
Fairbanks, who lived in Tempe, grew up in Minnesota and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He served with the U.S. Public Health Corps in New Orleans, Virginia, New Mexico and Arizona.
In 2002, he told The Republic he began his work against tobacco harms in the 1950s, while he was a hospital intern in New Orleans.
"Merchant seamen with lung disease were struggling to breathe, but they still wanted their cigarettes," Fairbanks told The Republic. "Nurses would have to remove the oxygen and hold the cigarettes so they wouldn't drop and set the beds on fire. And the nurses would have to breathe that smoke. I decided then that I was going to be an advocate for those nurses."
From 1985 to 1988, Fairbanks was a member of the U.S. Surgeon General's National Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health. He was also active in a network promoting smoke-free hospitals around the world.
Fairbanks never stopped working to prevent harms from tobacco, even after he retired from physician work at age 70.
"He retired from practice but he stayed active in policy ... It would have been easy to just collect your Social Security and pension and all, but he didn't. He kept pressing," Humble said. "He's a guy who didn't rest on his laurels. He almost made it to 100 by maintaining a purpose, staying active, with a reason to get up in the morning. I'm sure that's why he lived so long."
Reach health care reporter Stephanie Innes at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @stephanieinnes.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ anti-smoke fighter Leland Fairbanks was 'tobacco terrorist' to some

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Newsweek

15-06-2025

• Newsweek

Medicaid Expands Access for Tribes Across 6 States

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Native American tribal clinics in six states have been granted new powers to provide Medicaid clinic services, giving 89 new tribes more health care access. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded the powers of the clinics by approving Medicaid State Plan Amendments, which allow Indian Health Service (IHS) and tribal clinics to provide services beyond a specific clinic site. Why It Matters According to CMS, Native American and Alaska Native individuals are more susceptible to chronic illness than other groups in the U.S. population. The expansion of Medicaid services means that tribal clinic service providers in the affected states are better equipped to deliver care in areas other than their clinics, such as remote residential areas. What To Know The expansion, which was announced on Friday, has increased Medicaid access in six states: Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. Washington and Mexico saw the highest number of tribes gain better access, with 29 and 22 tribes, respectively—more than half of the entire program. Eleven tribes in Minnesota will benefit, while nine each where identified in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon. Stock image of a Medicaid Accepted Here sign. Stock image of a Medicaid Accepted Here sign. Getty Images The expansion works by granting existing facilities managed by IHS and tribal clinics the authority to perform Medicaid care services outside their "four walls," a requirement usually imposed on the IHS. This means that the clinics are able to provide care beyond the physical site, in other important places in the community such as homes and schools. There are over 2.9 million Native Americans in the U.S., and medical research has indicated that they are more susceptible to chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer than other groups. During the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, Native American communities were some of the hardest hit by the infection. For example, the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American territory in the U.S. with over 173,600 residents, had the highest per capita infection rate in the country by May 2020. What People Are Saying Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a statement announcing the expansion: "Until last year, federal rules prevented IHS and Tribal Medicaid clinic services providers from delivering Medicaid clinic services to vulnerable Tribal patients outside the four walls of the clinic. "These approvals help vulnerable Americans get care when and where they need it most." What Happens Next Each state has 90 days to implement the expansion, according to letters sent to state authorities by CMS.

Washington Post

11-06-2025

• Washington Post

Where wildfire smoke will lower air quality across the Midwest and Northeast

Surges of wildfire smoke are expected across central and eastern states through the end of the week as winds blow from Canada. Early Wednesday, air quality levels were unhealthy to very unhealthy across eastern Montana and North Dakota — ranking as some of the worst air quality on the planet. This area of smoke and reduced air quality, largely stemming from new fires in British Columbia, will spread to Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan later in the day.

Politico

09-06-2025

• Politico

Is Rubio's PEPFAR claim ‘made up'?

Presented by With Carmen Paun and Robert King Driving the day SHOW ME THE MONEY — Democrats are sparring with Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the HIV and AIDS program credited with saving millions of lives in poor countries, Carmen, Amanda Friedman and Robert report. President Donald Trump shut down the agency that signed off on most PEPFAR spending and fired staffers who supported it. Democrats say the administration is lying about the state of the program following massive foreign aid cuts led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Rubio has suggested those concerns are overblown, considering that PEPFAR remains '85 percent operative,' a claim that he made repeatedly in budget testimony before Congress. But neither Rubio nor the State Department will provide a detailed accounting to back up the figure. Dems say: 'It's made up,' Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said when asked by POLITICO about the 85 percent figure. 'It's the most successful, bipartisan, highly efficient life-saving thing that the United States has ever done, and Elon Musk went in and trashed it.' Schatz confronted Rubio about the cuts at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing in May, telling him: 'You are required to spend 100 percent of the money.' Rubio's retort: Rubio said the 15 percent cut targeted programs that weren't delivering the services the government was paying for. He pointed to fraud in Namibia and armed conflict in Sudan as reasons for slashed funding, although it isn't clear those instances were related to PEPFAR. Asked repeatedly by POLITICO for more clarity on what the 85 percent figure represents, a State Department spokesperson said that 'PEPFAR-funded programs that deliver HIV care and treatment or prevention of mother to child transmission services are operational for a majority of beneficiaries.' Data collection is ongoing to capture recent updates to programming, the spokesperson also said, adding: 'We expect to have updated figures later this year.' The day after his exchange with Schatz, Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that he meant 85 percent of PEPFAR's beneficiaries were still getting U.S. assistance. But the goal, he said, was to pass off the work to the countries where the beneficiaries live. 'We're by far the most generous nation on Earth on foreign aid, and will continue to be by far with no other equal, including China, despite all this alarmist stuff,' he said. Big picture: For flummoxed Democrats, the tussle with Rubio indicates a broader problem: How to respond to Trump's budget requests when his administration refuses to spend the money Congress has provided. Trump last month asked Congress to cut PEPFAR's budget for next year by 40 percent. WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE. I'm Erin Schumaker, POLITICO's National Institutes of Health reporter, filling in today for Kelly. Are you a current or former NIH employee considering a job offer abroad? Shoot me a message! Send your tips, scoops and feedback to eschumaker@ and khooper@ and follow along @erinlschumaker and @Kelhoops. Congress RACE TO FINISH MEGABILL — Senate Republicans could finalize their domestic policy megabill this week, Robert reports, finally tackling Medicaid changes. Republicans are expected to release text for the Medicaid portion of the spending package, which seeks to extend President Donald Trump's tax cuts. The megabill includes changes to Medicaid, like restrictions on eligibility, to help generate more than $700 billion in savings to pay for the tax cuts. Senate Republicans generally agree on adding work requirements, which will mandate some able-bodied beneficiaries complete 80 hours a month of work, job training or another activity. There are exemptions for pregnant women and disabled people, among others. But there are some disagreements surrounding states' ability to levy taxes on hospitals and other providers to pay for their share of Medicaid, which is funded jointly by the federal and state governments. The House version places a moratorium on new state provider taxes but leaves current ones intact. But the question is whether the moratorium will remain intact in the Senate bill, which leadership aims to pass before July 4. Insurance PUSH AGAINST MEDICARE ADVANTAGE CHANGES — A key insurer-backed advocacy group is trying to block Senate Republicans from changing the popular Medicare Advantage program to find savings for their domestic policy megabill, Robert reports. The Better Medicare Alliance, which includes insurers among its members and advocates for Medicare Advantage, is running ads in the Washington Reporter calling for Republicans to protect the program that enables older Americans to buy private insurance plans offering benefits not covered by traditional Medicare, like dental. The group said it will also share polling data with lawmakers that shows older Americans overwhelmingly oppose the changes being discussed. 'Cutting Medicare Advantage, and particularly in-home care, would break a promise to millions of seniors who rely on it,' said Mary Beth Donahue, president and CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance. Last week, Senate Republicans weighed whether to add a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to the larger package, which seeks to extend President Donald Trump's tax cuts. The legislation, called the No UPCODE Act, clamps down on tools Medicare Advantage plans use to generate higher payments from the federal government. Cassidy pushed back on the attacks from the insurance industry and Democrats who said the legislation cuts benefits. 'We're taking care of patients and we're trying to rescue the program,' he said in a statement. 'To say the No UPCODE Act has bipartisan support is an understatement. This addresses an issue both Republicans and Democrats have called waste, fraud and abuse.' Merkley said in a statement that he still supports the legislation but that it should be considered 'through regular order, not in the context of a partisan bill that will end up leaving 16 million people without healthcare.' The House did consider adding similar language to its bill but eventually backed off. AROUND THE AGENCIES NIH BUDGET TALKS — NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya will testify tomorrow on the agency's budget proposal, which calls for a 40 percent funding cut. The hearing before the Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee comes amid widespread discontent at the NIH. Last month, members of the NIH fellows union walked out of a town hall Bhattacharya held in protest of cuts to programs, layoffs and funding uncertainty. While Congress will ultimately decide how much money the agency gets, and could restrict how it's dispersed, we'll be watching for how Bhattacharya defends: — The indirect cost rate cap. The budget plan proposes capping at 15 percent the rate the NIH pays for administrative and facilities costs to grantees. But lawmakers, including Republicans, have criticized indirect cost caps, which the NIH first tried to impose in February. A federal court blocked that move, and the administration has appealed. Notably, the NIH budget proposal also asks Congress to stop restricting how the NIH sets indirect cost rates. — Downsizing the NIH. The budget plan suggests consolidating the agency's 27 institutes and centers into an eight-institute structure, eliminating the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Fogarty International Center, which promotes collaboration with foreign researchers. — Spending this year's budget. While Tuesday's hearing is about the 2026 budget, Bhattacharya is likely to be questioned about this year's budget, too. During a May 29 meeting with disease advocacy organizations, Bhattacharya promised to fully utilize the NIH's fiscal 2025 budget. But with billions of dollars in grants terminated or delayed since Trump was inaugurated, researchers and NIH staffers worry the 2025 budget won't get spent before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. WHAT WE'RE READING POLITICO's Juan Perez Jr. reports on how President Donald Trump has universities in the bind the right has long wanted. Reuters' P.J. Huffstutter reports on how the Trump administration's aid cuts are straining food banks in Ohio. The Washington Post's Erin Blakemore reports on new research that could explain why the human brain has such large storage capacity.