Dr. Gerhard Nothmann

NOTHMANN, Dr. Gerhard A prominent psychiatrist and pioneer of mental health services in New Hampshire, passed away from natural causes on November 11, 2008. Dr. Nothmann, a resident of Lee, New Hampshire, was 96 years of age. Dr. Nothmann was born to Albert and Wanda Priester Nothmann, respected wholesale grocers in the town of Gross Strehlitz in Eastern Germany on Sept. 23, 1912. He received a medical degree in 1938 from the University of Bern in Switzerland. Escaping the Nazis, Dr. Nothmann lived in England, before coming to America in 1940. He completed his medical residency in pediatrics at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. He earned a Fellow of Child Psychiatry at the Institute for Juvenile Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Nothmann moved to New Hampshire in 1946 and worked for the State Hospital in pediatrics. It was there he met mental health pioneer, Anna Philbrook. He joined with her in starting the Child Guidance Clinic, a traveling clinic that brought mental health services to all areas of New Hampshire, some for the first time. In 1951, Dr. Nothmann became the first Board Certified Psychiatrist in the state of New Hampshire. Again working with Ms. Philbrook, he helped found Winant House, New Hampshire's first outpatient Mental Health Clinic. Dr. Nothmann went on to become Medical Director of the first Community, privately supported Mental Health Center, the Dover Child Guidance Center (later The Strafford Guidance Center) from 1955 through 1970. The Strafford Guidance Center under Dr. Nothmann was inspired by President Kennedy's National Initiative on Mental Health. Dr. Nothmann continued at Strafford as a Consulting Psychiatrist until 1979. Dr. Nothmann treated many New Hampshire residents in his 30 years of private practice from 1956 through 1986. He was the sole Psychiatric Consultant for the University of New Hampshire in Durham for many years, helping countless students. Dr. Nothmann served as President of the New Hampshire branch of the American Psychiatric Association. He was an "Emeritus" member of the New Hampshire Medical Society and served on the Board of Directors of the Philbrook Children's Foundation. Among his many honors, in 2003, Dr. Nothmann was named a prestigious "Distinguished Life Fellow" by the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Nothmann was an avid skier, climber and swimmer who loved New Hampshire. He hiked many of the state's mountains and was proud of climbing and skiing down Mt. Washington's Tuckerman's Ravine many times. A world traveler, Dr. Nothmann visited dozens of exotic locations and catalogued his trips in photographs. Dr. Nothmann is survived by his nephews and nieces, Eric Nothman of Bethesda, Maryland, Kenneth Friedman of New York City, Leslie Kuester of Hanover, Germany and Lane Nothman of Seattle Washington, as well as eight grand nephews and nieces. Services and burial will be Sunday at 12:30 PM, Lee Hill Cemetery, located across from the Town Hall in Lee, New Hampshire. The public is invited. The Brewitt Funeral Home, 14 Pine Street, Exeter, NH is assisting the family with the arrangements. To sign an online guestbookpleasevisit www.brewittfuneralhome.com.