Anthony Fauci is calling it a career. And the 81-year-old infectious disease expert – one of the most visible health officials in the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak – deserves America’s heartfelt thanks. Without Fauci’s steady leadership, the COVID-19 pandemic would have created more havoc on our country than we could possibly imagine.

After 38 years leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci will retire by year’s end, he announced last week. The retirement is well earned. For nearly four decades, he worked to keep Americans safe from contagious diseases such as Ebola, Zika and other life-threatening conditions. He took the job in 1984 in part, he recalled later, because he was frustrated by the federal government’s inadequate response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and over time earned deep respect from activists within the gay community who had initially doubted his sincerity.

Despite that already stormy history, most of us knew little about Fauci’s work before 2020. His tenure as the face of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic – the most serious public health emergency in a century – was marked by controversy, a few missteps and frequent battles with former President Donald Trump. But he deserves profound praise for the way he presided over America’s response to the pandemic, whose grip around the nation’s neck appears to at last be loosening.

Fauci sparred with Trump, who routinely downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic, calling criticism of his response a hoax perpetrated by Democrats and other opponents.

But the pandemic was no laughing matter. More than 1 million Americans died and countless others were hospitalized. Despite enormous, bipartisan economic aid packages, many others will never fully recover from painful but necessary lockdowns that isolated individuals, separated families and pushed businesses to the brink of ruin.

Fauci did not set out to be a lightning rod. He was turned into one by Trump, who desperately wanted the pandemic to be over before the November 2020 election. As Trump turned more and more against reality, Fauci became the voice of science and reason. We’re thankful that he did.

In the early stages of the pandemic, we were told to stay home. Local shutdown orders were expected to last about two weeks. Soon, it became apparent more time was needed to limit the damage inflicted by the highly contagious airborne virus. Months went by before society reopened. During the unprecedented lockdown, nursing home residents were cut off from loved ones. The economy tanked. Small businesses closed. Schoolchildren were left behind. And, over the course of the last two years, the number of folks with mental health issues increased.

Republicans, especially after Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020, blamed Fauci for most of those ills. That wasn’t fair, or honest.

Meanwhile, new words and ideas crept into our lives, and we have Fauci to thank for that. Wearing masks in public and social distancing became the norm. Virtual learning and remote meetings were essential to school children and their parents. These safety measures and other precautions, pushed by Fauci and experts at the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, undoubtedly saved lives.

All along, Fauci did his level best to counter these foolish refusals to heed the facts. He stepped in to become the face of a responsible public servant and a welcome antidote to the poor examples set by Trump and many Republican governors. He also famously clashed with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky over booster shots and, in a dustup over Fauci’s yearly salary, referred to Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, also a Republican, as “a moron.”

Fauci, like the CDC itself, is not without faults. He probably regretted his intemperate words. And the messaging about masks was sloppy and inconsistent at the start – giving ammunition to those looking for any reason to push back against pandemic protections and protocols.

But Fauci’s mistakes were small compared to his successes. He’ll head into retirement with our gratitude.