OCT. 14, 2005 | University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., said he knew that William J. Evans, Ph.D., was a good catch when UAMS was pursuing the expert on aging.

Today, eight years after Evans joined UAMS, Wilson knows his confidence was well placed.

Evans has been named the first recipient of the Jane and Ed Warmack Chair in Nutritional Longevity. He will continue his work at UAMS, and the private gift that supports the chair will sustain aging-related diet and exercise research for a lifetime. 

Evans is a College of Medicine professor of geriatrics, physiology and nutrition and director of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Exercise Laboratory at UAMS’ Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. He also is a research scientist with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.

He was honored at an Oct. 6 investiture ceremony in the Jo Ellen Ford Auditorium at the Institute on Aging.

Evans has become a nationally known aging expert who has authored two books and more than 200 articles in scientific journals on the interaction between aging, diet and physical activity. 

The Warmacks, of Texarkana, have been devoted for more than 30 years to the kind of diet and exercise regimen that Evans suggests, making a dramatic difference in their quality of life. A major gift by the Warmacks, which was matched by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation during a recent fund-raising campaign, created the endowed chair.

“This is a great honor that will help continue the important work in identifying strategies to improve the health and vitality of older people,” Evans said. “More importantly, it will help all of us to follow the example of the Warmacks in how they live their lives.”

Evans recalled for his family, friends and colleagues at the investiture that his early study of athletic performance helped launch his groundbreaking research on the nutritional requirements and the importance of exercise for the elderly.

“My laboratory was the first to demonstrate the remarkable capacity of older people to respond to vigorous, high-intensity exercise, particularly the oldest and frailest among us,” Evans said.

Ed Warmack said his gift was a direct result of his respect for David Lipschitz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Institute on Aging.

“We would not be here today if not for Dr. David,” Warmack said.

Institute on Aging Advisory Board Chairman James E. Darr Jr. of Little Rock paid tribute to the Warmacks’ healthy lifestyle, and Lipschitz presented the couple with a specially crafted commemorative lawn chair produced by Torrans Manufacturing of Etoile, Texas, and Axis Arts of Little Rock. Ron Tribell of Axis Arts also designed the commemorative medallion that went to Evans. The chair back’s surface features an inlaid copy of the medallion. The 91-year-old Warmack sat briefly in the chair and noted that his plant once produced 500 such chairs an hour.

The medallion has an engraved image of Ed Warmack, and an image of the chair that symbolizes a pinnacle of manufacturing success for Warmack.

Wilson and E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., dean of the UAMS College of Medicine, presented Evans with the commemorative medallion.

Evans came to UAMS in 1997 after serving on the faculties of Tufts University in Boston and Penn State University. 

Evans has been invited to speak to Congress several times; last spring he proposed ways to prevent and affordably treat chronic diseases among older adults. His suggestions to Congress could help seniors lead healthier lives and save Medicare dollars.

Warmack is a businessman whose company’s accomplishments include the production of more gas heaters than any other company in the United States in the 1940s. He has spent the last 40 years in commercial rental property, building more than 6.5 million square feet of commercial properties, including seven malls in 10 states.