Chandler, Alfred W., 1890-1978

<p>Navy Rear Adm. Alfred White Chandler, 88, who retired in 1952 as the Navy's dental inspector general, died Sunday at his home in Chevy Chase of cardiac insufficiency.</p>

<p>In 1947, Adm. Chandler, a specialisft in prosthodontics (the replacement of missing teeth with artificial dentures, became assistant chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for Dentistry and chief of the Dental Division.</p>

<p>In this capacity, he was responsible for establishing the first Navy schools for dental technicians at Bethesda, and later at Great Lakes, Ill., and San Diego, Calif. He also was responsible for establishing dental facilities in all ships and stations having dental personnel.</p>

<p>Adm. Chandler enlisted in the Navy in 1917, one week after the U.S. declared war on Germany. He subsequently served as senior dental officer at bases here and abroad, as well as at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, the Naval Training Center at San Diego and the Naval Hospital at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.</p>

<p>He was a member of the first dental officer class at Washington's Naval Dental School. In 1923, after completing postgraduate work at Northwestern University, became head of the prosthetic and operative departments of the Naval dental School.</p>

<p>While on duty in Washington, he was dentist to Presidents Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He became dental inspector general in 1948.</p>

<p>Adm. Chandler was born in Newport, R.I., and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Dental School in 1915. He settled in Chevy Chase in 1946.</p>

<p>His service decorations included the Legion of Merit. In 1947, he received the Hayden-Harris Award for his contributions to the history of dentistry from the American Dental Association of which he was a member.</p>

<p>He also belonged to the Capitol Clinic Club and the American Denture Society and was a diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics and a fellow of the American College of Dentists.</p>

<p>Survivors include a son, retired Navy Capt. Alfred W. Chandler Jr., of La Jolla, Calif., a daughter, Jane Wiegand, of Bethesda, and seven grandchildren.</p>

<p>Alfred White Chandler was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. He served as the Chief of the United States Navy Dental Corps from 1946 to 1948, and again for a brief period in 1952.</p>

<p>He was born in Newport, Rhode Island on June 17, 1890. His family moved to New Jersey, where he attended Barringer High School and Wenonah Military Academy. Alfred Chandler graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1915. He did a brief stint as a dentist at a state hospital and then in private practice before joining the Navy on February 20, 1917 as a Lieutenant Junior Grade.</p><p>
Alfred Chandler joined the Navy one week after the United States joined World War I in 1917. He attended the first dental officer class at the Naval Dental School in 1923. He was assigned to several commands as Dental Officer, Senior Dental Officer, or Department Head during the period from 1917 to July 1945. From that period until his retirement, he would serve as Inspector of Dental Activities, Chief of Dental Inspections, Chief of the Dental Corps, and Assistant Chief for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his services during this period, including making significant improvements to the Dental Corps, establishing the Dental Technician rating, establishing formal schools and training programs for naval dental personnel, regulations permitting staff officers to bear the title "Commanding Officer", and regulations establishing dental departments onboard ships and shore stations.</p>

<p>He was the dentist for Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Along with Clemens V. Rault and Spry O. Claytor, Alfred W. Chandler was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1947. All three would serve as the Chief of the Dental Corps.

Rear Admiral Chandler retired from the United States Navy in July 1952.</p>
<p>He remained active in several dental organizations after retirement. On November 14, 1966, he received the highest award of the American Dental Association for his contributions to the field of dentistry. In 1967, he was elected President of the American Academy of the History of Dentistry. He also received the 1974 Hayden-Harris Award from the American Academy of the History of Dentistry for, among other things, writing and presenting articles and speeches on the history of dentistry, and for his role in getting George Washington's dentures displayed at the Smithsonian's Museum of History and Technology.</p>
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Alfred Chandler passed away on September 24, 1978. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.</p>