High profile Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died in New Hampshire at age 96.
HuffPo did a highlight of his accomplishments while he was in office
An assistant at Koop's Dartmouth institute, Susan Wills, said he died Monday in Hanover, where he had a home. She didn't disclose his cause of death.
Koop wielded the previously low-profile post of surgeon general as a bully pulpit for seven years during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.
An evangelical Christian, he shocked his conservative supporters when he endorsed condoms and sex education to stop the spread of AIDS.
He carried out a crusade to end smoking in the United States – his goal had been to do so by 2000. A former pipe smoker, he said cigarettes were as addictive as heroin and cocaine.
Koop's impact was great, although the surgeon general has no real authority to set government policy. He described himself as "the health conscience of the country."
"My only influence was through moral suasion," Koop said just before leaving office in 1989.
