Dr. Howard Posner, expert on alternative healing

Dr. Howard Posner, 66, of Merion, an internist, infectious-disease specialist, and authority on alternative healing, died of complications from pancreatic cancer Feb. 26 at home.

Since 1978, Dr. Posner operated the Center for Preventive Medicine in Bala Cynwyd. Although he prescribed medication when he believed it was necessary, he was often able to treat osteoporosis, arthritis, high blood pressure and other disorders without drugs, his wife, Janie Cohen Posner, said. He successfully treated people with chronic Lyme disease who had not been helped by traditional medicine, she said.

Dr. Posner used vitamins, herbs, yoga and nutrition for most ailments, recommending vegetarian diets to his patients. "I am not fanatical," he told a reporter in 1985. "I say this is the direction you should take; you have to do what you feel comfortable with."

In the 1980s, Dr. Posner hosted a weekly radio program on WHYY-FM (91). Among his guests were Linus Pauling, Norman Cousins and Andrew Weil.

He taught health-related courses at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges and Goucher College in Maryland, and gave seminars around the world on subjects ranging from holistic health to Eastern mysticism. He was a devoted student of the late Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, an ascetic from Sri Lanka.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Posner earned a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University on Long Island and a medical degree from the State University of New York in Brooklyn. He interned at Long Island Jewish Hospital.

From 1966 to 1968, he was medical director of the Peace Corps-World Health Organization Smallpox Vaccination Campaign in West Africa. He received an award from the president of Niger for administering more than one million vaccinations against smallpox, yellow fever, measles and tuberculosis.

After returning to the United States, Dr. Posner completed residencies in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. From 1972 to 1977 he was chief of infectious disease at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.

He enjoyed photography, chess, music, tai chi, bicycling, and water sports that included boogie boarding, body surfing and scuba diving.

In addition to his wife of 33 years, Dr. Posner is survived by sons Jerahme, Imran, and Andre; daughters Ahsiya, Saburah, Mariyam, and Sarah; two brothers; and two grandsons. His former wife, Barbara Hahn, preceded him in death. A funeral and burial were private.