W.R. Spence, MD

1934-1998

It all started in 1969 with a bit of black humor. As a personal gesture of exasperation when one of my patients refused to try to quit smoking, I made an ashtray with a pair of lungs perched on top. Smoke channeled through one lung and turned it a pukish yellow-brown while the other lung stayed clear. John Banzhaf had just started his anti-smoking efforts with the founding of ASH "Action on Smoking and Health", and the two of us gave lung ashtrays to all members of Congress with the message, "Don't Vote For Death" pasted on its base. (Congressional hearings had just begun on banning cigarette advertising from TV.) As luck would have it, the TV networks, Reader's Digest, Esquire magazine, the Associated Press, and a myriad of journalists picked up on the prank. As a result of more than 10,000 letters asking for help for smokers, my health education efforts then began in earnest through HEALTH EDCO, a division of Spenco Medical Corporation.

Today, WRS Group, Ltd. is America's leading producer of health education products for schools, hospitals, doctors' offices, foundations, and corporations. While we offer more than 3,000 different products, our specialty lies in the development of the many unique 3-D teaching models you will find in our catalog. While all of us inevitably get discouraged, we have come a long way from the days when I went to medical school and the Journal of the American Medical Association accepted cigarette advertising.