John Nestor

Who is John Nestor?

John Oliver Nestor was a U.S. Food and Drug Administration medical officer.

In 1972 he had been transferred out of FDA’s cardio-renal-pulmonary unit because that division “had approved no new chemical entities … from 1968 to 1972, an experience that contrasted with the experience of every other medical modern nation and with the experience of other divisions of the FDA.”

He also achieved fame in the Washington, D.C. area in 1984 after The Washington Post published his letter describing his favored driving method: On highways Nestor would settle his vehicle in the far left lane and set the cruise control at the speed limit, at the time 55 mph. He would not move to the right for drivers behind him. "Why," he asked, "should I inconvenience myself for someone who wants to speed?"

Nestor's letter enraged many motorists and led Paul J. Leonard to coin the term 'Nestoring' to describe the practice in another letter to the editor. Nestor died in 1999 at the age of 86.