NASW Social Work Pioneer® Warren C. Lamson passed away at his residence in Solomons, Md., on May 5, 2008. He was 93.

Lamson graduated from Wayne State College in 1938 with a bachelor’s degree in education and from the University of Nebraska Graduate School of Social Work in 1942 with an MSW. He taught in Nebraska public schools prior to attending graduate school.

Lamson served in the Adjutant Generals Department of the Army as a first lieutenant in World War II. He specialized in clinical psychology and psychiatric social work. Following his discharge from the Army, Lamson became chief of the Social Work Branch of the Denver Regional Office of the Veterans Administration. In 1949, he was selected to be the mental health consultant in the U.S. Public Health Service Regional Office in Dallas, Texas. The following year, he became the chief psychiatric social worker in the Community Services Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, in Bethesda, Md.

Lamson served in several other administrative and consultative capacities in the agency before retiring in 1974 as chief of the continuing education branch. After retirement he was employed as chief social worker in the Maryland State Department of Mental Hygiene. He retired from that position in 1978.

Lamson was active at the national level in several social work organizations as well. He was a charter member of NASW and served on several commissions and committees of the association as well as with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). He was a charter member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and was a licensed certified social worker in Maryland. In 1994, he was elected as a pioneer in social work by NASW.

He is survived by his wife, Julia L. “Judy” Lamson, three children and six grandchildren.