Longtime Faculty Member Milton Heath Passes Away at 91

Former School of Government faculty member Milton S. Heath Jr. died at age 91 on October 20, 2019. 

Heath was one of UNC-Chapel Hill’s longest serving faculty members. He joined the then-Institute of Government staff in 1957 as an expert in natural sciences and environmental law. He taught state and local public officials as well as courses in environmental law for graduate students at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health and Duke University. He authored and co-authored books, articles, and professional papers, and he served as editor of the School's Legislative Reporting Service from 1965 to 1974. He retired from a full-time role on the faculty in 1998 and continued part-time work until 2008.  

As a public service academic, Heath served as legal counsel to several North Carolina House and Senate committees from 1967 to 1983, while also working closely with North Carolina governors during the period on environmental policy. He contributed to a 20-year wave of state environmental legislation, which created laws on pollution, water management, water and air resources, and floodplain management, among other topics. Heath helped draft the Water Use Act of 1967, the Environmental Policy Act of 1971, the Coastal Area Management Act of 1974, and 1983’s Mountain Ridge Protection Act among many other pieces of legislation.

Heath received the 2007 J. M. Jarrett Award from the Environmental Health Section of the North Carolina Public Health Association for his work "in the environmental health field as a proponent, teacher and leader." He twice received the Newton Underwood Award for Excellence in Teaching, once from the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department and once from the School of Public Health. Upon his retirement in 2008, Heath was presented  with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award. The award is the highest civilian honor given by the State of North Carolina.