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Always thin as a bean pole, White inveighed relentlessly against sloth of mind or body. He advocated walking and, better yet, bicycling as a means of stimulating circulation to the brain as well as the heart. Well into his 80s, he practiced what he preached. Not until he was 84 did he suffer a minor heart attack. He recovered and went back to work and even kept on bicycling. Late last May he had a stroke and was hospitalized in Massachusetts General. There he was told that one of his patients had arrived from Florida expecting treatment, unaware that White was ill. Dr. White got out of bed and held the desired consultation in his bathrobe.
The hospital's neurological service had recently acquired a supersophisticated X-ray brain scanner. A researcher to the last, White was glad to have it used on him to locate a blood clot, which was surgically removed. But a second stroke last month proved more than he could withstand. White once said: "It would be desirable for everyone to die suddenly in his sleep at the age of 90." He came close to achieving that goal.