Bill Novelli. Photo by Melanie Dunea/CPI

A colleague in the field of aging and I recently wondered whether a champion for older Americans existed who could be heard above the din. Both of us remembered Claude Pepper, the Florida congressman known for his crafty Southern charm and unflagging advocacy for older people in the 1970s and ’80s. 

We were searching for a contemporary name, someone whose very mention evokes thoughts of older Americans. After several moments, my colleague said, “AARP. It’s not a person, but—AARP.”

Pretty much any conversation about Social Security, Medicare or a 50th birthday will elicit those same four letters, in large part because of William D. Novelli, the person whose eight years at the Association’s helm ended with his resignation in April.

Known as Bill to Presidents Bush and Obama, the cheerful, soft-spoken Novelli—one-time campaigner for Richard Nixon, recruitment director for the Peace Corps, corporate ad man, a top executive at CARE and later the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids—is the antithesis of a headline-grabbing politician. He has seemed more comfortable perched in the AARP pilot’s seat.

Novelli likes to quote the bookend rebukes of former Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, who labeled AARP “a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party,” and Democratic Rep. Pete Stark of California, who scoffed that AARP stands for “Always Advocating for the Republican Party.”

Novelli replied, “I like to think of us as the centrist party. We call them as we see them.”

And call them he did, even when it ruffled feathers. Progressives will forever rehash AARP’s controversial endorsement of Medicare prescription drug legislation that initially drove away thousands of members but ultimately lowered drug costs for millions. And conservatives will deride AARP’s successful campaign to sink President Bush’s privatization plan for Social Security, which delighted most members.

But the other side of Novelli’s legacy, his commitment to public purpose, cannot be easily dismissed. “The secret sauce for AARP is that we have a great mission, and we have all the right ingredients to get the job done,” he said. He advanced initiatives that revealed a genuine compassion for the nation’s most vulnerable people and a strong will to improve their lives.

A pioneer in “social marketing,” Novelli aimed at balancing the market side of AARP with its social imperative.

Under his leadership, membership grew and AARP’s diversity increased; for example, the Association more than doubled its Hispanic membership during his tenure. Novelli ardently insisted that problems with Medicare and Medicaid should be resolved only in the context of reforming the country’s dysfunctional health care system. And he repeatedly called for reform to include chronic and long-term care, services that are crucial to older people but short-shrifted in American health care.

In 2007 Novelli and AARP launched the Divided We Fail initiative, an aggressive national movement formed with the Business Roundtable, the Service Employees International Union and the National Federation of Independent Business that pushes politicians to address the woeful lack of financial security and affordable health care affecting all Americans.

Frequently, he focused AARP’s resources on lower-profile but vitally important issues like supporting new transportation models that could help older adults avoid isolation and provide safe passage to a doctor’s office or a grocery, or keeping people in their homes and out of nursing facilities.

So aging boomers who wonder who might speak for them can credit Bill Novelli with seasoning the Association’s mission with the spice of purpose that makes so many recognize—and, yes, argue about—the influence of AARP.

Paul Kleyman is associate director of the Ethnic Elders Newsbeat at New America Media.