C . Everett Koop Charles Everett Koop , MD ( October 14 , 1916 – February 25 , 2013 ) was an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator . He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps , and served as the 13th Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989 . According to the Associated Press , " Koop was the only surgeon general to become a household name . " Koop was known for his work to prevent tobacco use , AIDS and abortion and the rights of disabled children . Early life and education . Koop was born in Brooklyn , New York , the only child of John Everett Koop ( 1883 – 1972 ) , a banker and descendant of 17th - century Dutch settlers , and Helen ( née Apel ) Koop ( 1894 – 1970 ) . In 1937 , he earned his A . B . degree from Dartmouth College , where he was given the nickname " Chick " ( occasionally used for his first name , Charles , but here an allusion to a chicken coop ) . His interest in medicine followed a year in hospital following a childhood skiing accident and brain haemorrhage . He earned his MD degree from Cornell Medical College in 1941 and doctor of science degree in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 . Career . Medical career . From 1946 to 1981 , Koop was the surgeon - in - chief at the Children ' s Hospital of Philadelphia ( CHOP ) . Koop was able to establish the nation ' s first neonatal surgical intensive care unit there in 1956 . He helped establish the biliary atresia program at CHOP when pioneering surgeon Morio Kasai came to work with him in the 1970s . He also established the pediatric surgery fellowship training program at CHOP . During his tenure there he graduated thirty - five residents and fourteen foreign fellows , many of whom went on to become professors of pediatric surgery , directors of divisions of pediatric surgery , and surgeons - in - chief of children ' s hospitals . Koop became a professor of pediatric surgery in 1959 and professor of pediatrics in 1971 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine . While a surgeon in Philadelphia , Koop performed groundbreaking surgical procedures on conjoined twins , invented techniques which today are commonly used for infant surgery , and saved the lives of countless children who otherwise might have been allowed to die . He invented anesthetic and surgical techniques for small bodies and metabolisms and participated in the separation of several sets of conjoined twins whose condition other physicians at the time considered hopeless . He first gained international recognition in 1957 by the separation of two female pygopagus infants ( conjoined at the pelvis ) and then , again , in 1974 by the separation of two ischiopagus twins ( conjoined at the spine ) sharing a liver , colon , and parts of the intestines with their entire trunks merged . Koop was active in publishing articles in the medical literature . Koop later wrote that " each day of those early years in pediatric surgery I felt I was on the cutting edge . Some of the surgical problems that landed on the operating table at Children ' s had not even been named . Many of the operations I performed had never been done before . It was an exuberant feeling , but also a little scary . At times I was troubled by fears that I wasn ' t doing things the right way , that I would have regrets , or that someone else had performed a certain procedure successfully but had never bothered to write it up for the medical journals , or if they had I couldn ' t find it . " Koop helped rectify this by publishing his own findings and results . Additionally , he became the first editor of the " Journal of Pediatric Surgery " when it was founded in 1966 . In contrast to his years as surgeon general , when it was his policies and speeches that had bearing on other people , his years as an operating pediatric surgeon involved a more individualized , direct , hands - on effect on others . During the course of his long career , for example , he performed some seventeen thousand inguinal hernia repairs and over seven thousand orchidopexies ( surgery for correcting undescended testicle ) . He developed new procedures , such as the colon interposition graft for correcting esophageal atresia ( congenital lack of continuity of the esophagus ) or ventriculoperitoneal shunts for treatment of hydrocephalus ( accumulation of excessive cerebral spinal fluid in and around the brain causing neurological problems ) . He also tackled many difficult cases ranging from childhood cancer to surgeries done on conjoined twins , of which he and his colleagues operated upon ten pairs during his 35 - year tenure . In all he operated on many children and babies with congenital defects ' incompatible with life but amenable to surgical correction ' . In 1976 , Koop wrote " The Right to Live , The Right to Die " , setting down his concerns about abortion , infanticide , and euthanasia . Koop also took some time off from his surgical practice to make a series of films with Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer in 1978 , entitled " Whatever Happened to the Human Race ? " in 1978 . President Ronald Reagan , shortly after his first inauguration , appointed Koop Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in February 1981 . It was understood that Reagan would later nominate Koop to be surgeon general . U . S . Surgeon General . As expected , Koop was nominated for U . S . surgeon general by Reagan later in 1981 . Many liberal politicians and women ' s groups opposed the nomination because of Koop ' s very conservative views and strong anti - abortion beliefs . His nomination was confirmed by the U . S . Senate on November 16 , 1981 , by a vote of 60 – 24 . He was sworn into office on January 21 the following year . Koop Report . Koop , an opponent of abortion , resisted pressure from the Reagan administration in 1987 to prepare a report stating that abortion was psychologically harmful to women . He said it was not a public health issue but a moral one . Koop assigned an assistant , George Walter , the task of researching the matter . Walter obtained a list of articles from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) , authored mostly by CDC abortion - surveillance staff , and consulted with Alan Guttmacher Institute personnel . Walter wrote a draft report on his findings and gave it to Koop . In a January 10 , 1989 letter to Reagan , Koop said that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate issuing the finding desired by the administration . He also commented about how some of the president ' s advisers thought thst " it was a foregone conclusion that the negative health effects of abortion on women were so overwhelming that the evidence would force the reversal of Roe v . Wade " . Koop did not present the draft report to Reagan and claimed he never approved it . In March 1989 , the " Koop Report " became public after it was subpoenaed and became part of a Congressional subcommittee hearing . Although there were allegations that the report had not been released previously because it was biased , the document contained all arguments on both sides of the issue . Later career . Following his career as Surgeon General , Koop was on The Firestorm Solutions Expert Council . Koop hosted a documentary series in 1991 , simply titled " C . Everett Koop , M . D . " It aired for six episodes on NBC . Koop and other investors established drkoop . com in 1997 , during the dot - com bubble . This medical information website was one of the first major online sources of health information . Critical review of the site content revealed that many of the private care listings , medicinal recommendations , and medical trial referrals were paid advertisements . The website went bankrupt in 2001 and the address now re - directs to another health - related website . Koop continued to endorse Life Alert bracelets for the elderly . In 1999 testimony before Congress , Koop minimized concerns from health groups about the severity of allergies to latex gloves . It was later discovered that a company that manufactured latex gloves had previously paid Koop $ 650 , 000 for consulting work . Koop held three professorships at Dartmouth Medical School , where he was also the senior scholar at the C . Everett Koop Institute . Legacy . Koop is perhaps most remembered for four facets of his professional work : These four issues combined with Koop ' s personality and his willingness to make use of mass media brought to the office of Surgeon General a higher public profile than it previously had merited ; he is , for instance , the first Surgeon General to have been the subject of a popular song – " Promiscuous " , by Frank Zappa . Koop was well known for his mustache - less beard and colorful bow tie s . During much of his day - to - day work , Koop wore the Surgeon General ' s US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps uniform , a uniform similar to that of a U . S . Navy Vice Admiral ' s . During his tenure he re - instated the daily wearing of the PHS uniform by the officers of the PHS . Personal life . In early 1968 , Koop ' s son David was killed in a rock climbing accident on Cannon Mountain during his junior year at Dartmouth College . Koop later wrote that because of his son ' s death he thought , " I might be better able to help parents of dying children , but for quite a while I felt less able , too emotionally involved . And from that time on , I could rarely discuss the death of a child without tears welling up into my eyes . " Years later , he and his wife wrote a book called " Sometimes Mountains Move " to help others who had lost a child . Koop ' s son Rev . Norman Koop attended Eastern Baptist College ( now Eastern University ) and graduated in 1969 , The following year the elder Koop was elected to the board of trustees becoming the first non - Baptist member of the board . In February 2007 , Elizabeth Koop , his wife of nearly 70 years , died . On April 17 , 2010 , he married Cora Hogue , a former staff member of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia . At a 2010 news conference , Koop spoke from a wheelchair and said that he was " very , very deaf " and legally blind . Death . Koop died on February 25 , 2013 , at the age of 96 at his home in Hanover , New Hampshire . According to a Koop aide , he had been ill for several months and suffered kidney failure the previous week . No official determination of cause of death has yet been announced . Remarking on Koop ' s death , American Medical Association president Jeremy Lazarus commented , " Because of what he did , and the way he did it , he had a dramatic impact on public health . " The Associated Press called his impact " great " , while the " Philadelphia Inquirer " called him " a courageous and brilliant pediatric surgeon who pioneered techniques . . . and became an outspoken surgeon general " . Writing for " The New Yorker " , Michael Specter said , " I don ’ t think I have ever met anyone for whom I had more respect . . . In this era , during which progress , facts , and science are under unrelenting siege , it is thrilling to remember that even ideologues can love the truth . " In popular culture . In early 2010 he appeared in a commercial against President Barack Obama ' s health care bill In July 2010 , Koop wrote a letter to members of the U . S . Senate opposing the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan . In the Futurama episode Three Hundred Big Boys Bender is shopping for a cigar and one of the brand names on display is " Royal Kooparillo " featuring a likeness of C . Everett Koop . Surgeon General