Max Fine, 56-year Club member, Medicare pioneer in Kennedy administration, 92

Max W. Fine, a 56-year National Press Club communicator member and pioneer champion of making Medicare available to all Americans, died April 19 at the age of 92. He had lived in Rockville, Md.

"If commitment to the public good is the measure of a person, then Max Fine’s life was one well-lived," Carl Ginsburg, Fine’s nephew and director of communications for the New York State Nurses Association, wrote in a tribute to his uncle.

Born in Nashville, Tenn., Fine became an advocate of health care for all as a right after being named by President John F. Kennedy to a legislative task force that shaped what became the Medicare health insurance program for seniors enacted under President Lyndon Johnson. Fine spent much of his career working to expand the program to all Americans. His efforts included becoming executive director of the Committee for National Health Insurance in 1968 and participating in public discussions of health care issues until the time of his death.

Prior to joining the Kennedy administration, Fine was a press secretary to United Nations General Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld.

Ron Minikes, a friend of Fine, recalled an anecdote he said "encapsulates the elegance of his thinking, as well as his humor. When he moved his consulting practice from downtown Washington to a suburban office building he purchased nine parking spots for his 10 employees. No one was ever late."

Survivors include a daughter Jodie Sue Fine; son Robert; grandson Gregory; great-grandson Brady; and sister Libby Ginsburg of Sherman Oaks.