Marty Mann

She would be the first to claim that her sobriety, found through Alcoholics Anonymous in its very earliest days, was the most important factor in her success. Indeed, she was the first woman to stay sober in AA -- from 1940 until her death in 1980. Her vision was to educate the whole country about alcoholism. She was obsessed with eliminating the historic stigma attached to chronic inebriation. She joined forces with the Yale School of Alcohol Studies (now at Rutgers), where early significant scientific research into alcoholism was underway. Eventually her nationwide educational efforts led to the creation of a separate organization, the National Council on Alcoholism (now the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence or NCADD). NCADD has been this country's most important educational, referral resource for alcoholics, their families and communities all across the country.

Three ideas formed the basis of her message:

1. Alcoholism is a disease and the alcoholic a sick person.
2. The alcoholic can be helped and is worth helping.
3. Alcoholism is a public health problem and therefore a public responsibility.