Harold Lloyd Sheppard (1922-1997)

Harold Sheppard, 75, Teacher and Researcher on the Elderly, New York Times, Aug. 4, 1997.

Harold Lloyd Sheppard, who studied and wrote about the aging of America, particularly in the workplace, died on July 10 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Fla. He was 75 and lived in Clearwater, Fla.

Dr. Sheppard was the White House counselor on aging in the Carter Administration. At his death, he was a professor of gerontology at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

In the late 1950s, he took part in an innovative study of older workers who faced the loss of their jobs at a Packard automobile plant in Detroit. His research was published in a 1959 book he co-wrote, Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire: A Case Study of a Permanent Plant Shutdown.

Dr. Sheppard combined a teaching career with work with government agencies, labor unions, and private groups concerned about the problems of an aging population. He directed the International Exchange Center on Gerontology at the University of South Florida from 1983 to 1991.

He was born in Baltimore and received a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1945 and a doctorate in sociology and anthropology from the University of Wisconsin in 1949.

Dr. Sheppard taught at Wayne State University in Detroit, lectured in France and Germany, and held various research and staff positions in government agencies and private organizations that focused on age discrimination and retirement.

He was the author, co-author, or editor of several books, including Where Have All the Robots Gone? (Free Press, 1972), The Graying of Working America (Free Press, 1979), and The Future of Older Workers (University of Sourth Florida, 1990).

Dr. Sheppard is survived by a son, Mark, of Detroit; a daughter, Jenny-Ann Graf Sheppard of Chicago; his companion, Lisl Schick of Clearwater; and a brother, Norman Silverman, and sister, Tresa Hughes, both of Manhattan.