Kenneth Rabinowitz Warren

Kenneth Rabinowitz Warren, passed away on August 21, 2024, due to cancer. He was born Kenneth Warren Rabinowitz in the Bronx, New York, to Irving and Lillian Rabinowitz nee David on July 27, 1943. He worked as a professional tenor saxophone player while pursuing a chemistry degree at City College, New York. Chemistry won out over music, and he got a PhD in biochemistry from Michigan State University, where he met the love of his life, Carol, to whom he was married for almost 58 years. He left a good impression on Carol’s family, showing up in a Ford Mustang and stylish suit jacket, which only continued to get better over the years.

Ken swapped his middle and last names as a young man to help with stuttering. Shortly thereafter he joined the federal government, where he worked for 42 years, most of those for the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), one of the National Institutes of Health.

Ken retired in 2015 as the acting director of NIAAA. More than management, Ken’s main legacy was in the field of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Ken was the lead author on the first FDA warning to pregnant women not to drink during pregnancy in 1977; involved in the first Surgeon General’s warning about the same in 1981; and continued to play instrumental roles in advancing FAS knowledge throughout his career, which allowed him to travel the world and culminated in numerous awards. Any woman in the US who had a child since 1977 and knew not to drink during pregnancy has Ken in part to thank for this knowledge.

Ken loved his work and continued to consult after retirement, working as recently as July 2024.

Ken is survived by his wife, Carol of Cave Spring, Va.; sister, Karen Bogart of Ellicott City. Md.; son, David Warren and wife, Dena of Kalispell, Mont.; daughter, Susan Warren and husband, Ben Dickerson of Willis, Va.; grandchildren, Cooper & William Dickerson, and Grace & Eve Warren. Ken is also survived by numerous brothers and sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews, many of whom remember him as an exceptionally smart, kind, and gentle man who could get along with anybody.

A memorial service to honor Kenneth's life will be held on Friday October 18, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. at Pierce Funeral Home, 9609 Center St Manassas, VA 20110.

Condolences may be expressed to the Warren family by visiting www.johnmoakey.com.