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Dr Benjamin Spock M.D., practised paediatrics in New York City from 1933 to 1947. He then became a medical teacher and researcher at the Mayo Clinic, the University of Pittsburgh, and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The author of eleven books, he was a political activist for causes that vitally affect children: disarmament, day care, schooling, housing, and medical care for all. He had two sons, a stepdaughter, and four grandchildren. Dr. Spock, who died March 15, 1998, at age ninety-four, was married to Mary Morgan who survives him. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care has been translated into thirty-nine languages and has sold fifty million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1946. Dr. Robert Needlman grew up in Chicago, and earned his MD from Yale Medical School. He trained in General Paediatrics and Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston City Hospital, where he led the development of Reach Out and Read, a project to promote reading aloud. ROR programmes now help millions of children to grow up loving books (learn more at www.reachoutandread.org). In addition to being the revising co-author of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care, 8th and 9th editions, he is the author of Dr. Spock's Baby Basics and writes for Drspock.com. Dr. Needlman practices and teaches Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.