Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall Jr., a surgeon and educator who as the first black president of the American Cancer Society was a leader in promoting awareness of the risks of cancer, particularly among African-Americans, died on May 25 in Washington. He was 89.

His son, LaSalle Leffall III, said Dr. Leffall himself died of cancer at a hospital.

A son of the small-town, segregated Florida Panhandle, Dr. Leffall was also the first black president of the American College of Surgeons in 1979 and the first black person to head the Society of Surgical Oncology and the Society of Surgical Chairs.

In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed him chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel, an influential advisory role that he held until 2011. He also served as chairman of Susan G. Komen, the breast cancer foundation.

As president of the American Cancer Society, beginning in 1978, Dr. Leffall launched a campaign to promote early diagnosis and other preventive measures to reduce the higher rates of lung, stomach, pancreatic and esophagus cancer among black men and uterine cancer among black women — diseases attributed in part to social and environmental factors, like insufficient access to health care and exposure to industrial carcinogens.