ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, December 30, 1996              TAG: 9612300050
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: BETHESDA, MD.
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

HIS VISION BROUGHT HOPE HOSPITAL SHIP FOUNDER DIES AT 76

Bill Walsh, founder of the first peacetime floating hospital that later became Project HOPE, died Friday of cancer. He was 76.

Walsh proposed the idea of a hospital on a boat after serving as a medical officer in World War II. He was one of the first U.S. doctors to treat Japanese civilians in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.

President Dwight Eisenhower approved Walsh's idea for floating humanitarian aid in 1958. In 1960, the S.S. Hope embarked on its first mission to Sumbawa, Indonesia, where the 250,000 island residents relied on one overcrowded hospital and two doctors.

Though the boat was retired in 1974, Project HOPE now operates more than 45 health education and humanitarian assistance programs in more than 20 countries. Walsh retired as president and chief executive officer of Project HOPE in 1992.

LENGTH: Short :   30 lines