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ROBERT MCCARLEY Obituary
renowned and award-winning researcher Of Newton, Massachusetts, passed unexpectedly on Saturday May 27, 2017 at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife Alice McCarley, two sons Robert V. McCarley, M.D. (46) and Scott W. McCarley (44), and seven grandchildren.
Robert McCarley was an accomplished physician, scientist, husband, father, and grandfather. Born and raised in Mayfield, Kentucky, he moved to Cambridge to attend Harvard College where he was a National Scholar and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He went on to be a National Scholar at Harvard Medical School, a Fulbright scholar in Germany, and completed a medical residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston. A world-renowned and award-winning researcher clinically trained in psychiatry, he pursued an interest in Neuroscience and Basic Science and produced seminal work in the fields of Sleep and Schizophrenia, including over 450 scientific articles and chapters of academic books. He held numerous appointments, most recently as Associate Director of the Mental Health Service and Director of the Laboratory of Neuroscience, as well as Professor and Head of Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry of the VA Boston Healthcare System. His research helped to support a number of labs. He was a thoughtful advisor and mentor to graduate and medical students, as well as early career researchers. He remained astonishingly active in his career throughout his life.
In addition to his passion for learning and his work, Robert McCarley was committed to his family. He was a wonderful husband, a caring father and friend to Rob and Scott, and a loving grandfather to Emma McCarley (13), Maddie McCarley (12), Amelia McCarley (10), Callie McCarley (8), Harper McCarley (3), Ian McCarley (7), and June McCarley (5). He loved to travel, sought out the opera and theater, and was a competitive tennis player for much of his life. He had a passion for automobiles, computers and computer science, and for the field psychiatry. He will be dearly missed and was deeply loved by his family and those who knew him.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be encouraged to the National Alliance on Mental Illness ([email protected] or call 1-888-999NAMI). Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 1 in Newton, MA. Beginning at 9:30am, a visitation will be held at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish (573 Washington Street, Newton). This will be followed by a 10:30am Mass at the same location, and a gathering for all friends and family at the home of Scott McCarley in Newtonville immediately following service. Burke & Blackington Funeral Home
BurkeFamilyFuneralHomes.com
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Memories and Condolences
for ROBERT MCCARLEY
Jijun Wang
May 27, 2018
My last e-mail from Bob is on May 23, 2017. "Jijun, Best wishes for a speedy and successful recovery from your eye surgery. As you know, I wish I could have been there for the conference and discussions. I do appreciate your showing my picture in a slide and giving the chronology of our Boston-Shanghai collaboration. With warm best wishes, Bob"
Casey Bauer
June 7, 2017
Bob McCarley was such an intelligent, thoughtful and kind human being. He is going to be sorely missed, and long remembered. My heart goes out to Alice, and to all of the family, friends and colleagues that he has left behind.
Linda Antinoro
June 6, 2017
Dear Alice,
So sorry to hear the news. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Linda
Alexander Borbely
June 4, 2017
Bob was a highly esteemed colleague with whom I had frequent contacts in the 1960s and the following decades. I shall miss his warm and outgoing friendliness and his unwavering enthusiasm for science. I offer my condolences to Alice and the family.
Min-Seong Koo
June 3, 2017
Dear Alice,
My wife, helen and I are deeply saddened.
He was a wonderful mentor for me. We will remember him forever.
Min-Seong and Helen Park from South Korea
Roger Broughton
June 3, 2017
Bob was a remarkable and passionate scientist and a wonderful friend. His many leadership roles were appreciated by all researchers of the basic regulation and clinical disorders of sleep. His passing is a great loss to the field, and he will be fondly remembered by many.
Roger Broughton,
President APSS (1972-1975)
George Horowitz
June 2, 2017
I am deeply saddened by Bob's death. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Dinesh Pal
June 2, 2017
Although I didn't have the privilege to work with Prof. McCarley, I had the good fortune of meeting him at several scientific meetings over the last 10 years. He was soft spoken and kind, and his passion for Science was truly inspirational. He wrote me a letter of recommendation for my permanent residency in United States for which I will always be grateful. My deepest condolences to Prof. McCarley's family.
Philip Westbrook
June 2, 2017
Carol joins me in sending our deepest sympathies to the McCarley family. It was a privilege to have been in one of the same fields as Bob. He was a leader and a nice guy and very wise.
JiJun Wang
June 2, 2017
No words can express our surprise and sadness. Bob bridged the Boston and Shanghai groups and made significant and passionate contribution to the progress of the projects. We are very sorry for this huge loss to his family, friends and his closest colleagues!
JiJun Wang
Shanghai Team
Steve Fischman
May 31, 2017
Alice, Robbie and Scot,
Nancy and I were so saddened to learn of Bob's death. Brought back so many fond memories of the McCarleys.
We were aware that Bob had a distinguished career, but given Bob's modesty we never fully understood the magnitude of his achievements. The day I learned about Bob's passing I was reading about his collaboration with Dr. Hobson in The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis which is about the intense and brilliant collaboration of two psychologists. They cited the work of McCarley and Hobson as another brilliant collaboration.
Our very sincere condolences to all of you and your families.
Sincerely, Nancy and Steve Fischman (for all of the Fischmans as well)
Stuart Quan
May 31, 2017
I am very saddened to hear of Bob's passing and add my condolences to his family. I can still remember his welcoming during my recruitment to HMS 10 years ago. He was a great sleep scientist.
Mahesh Thakkar
May 31, 2017
I am deeply saddened by the unfortunate passing of Dr. Robert McCarley. He was an outstanding scientist and a gentle human being. I had the privilege of training under him. He was a great mentor and an excellent teacher. I have gained a lot from his guidance. While I mourn his loss, I feel blessed and honored that he was a part of my life. My condolences to his family and friends
Jessica Turner
May 31, 2017
My condolences to his friends and family. Bob was a wonderful researcher and a good guy to work with, with excellent insights and always good advice. I always looked forward to his input and recommendations, as they were always invaluable. He will be missed tremendously.
May 31, 2017
Alice,
We are deeply saddened by the news of Prof. Robert W. McCarley's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Chikara Ogura, Hiroto Hokama, Hirokazu Ohta, Hajime Arakaki, Shin Tanaka
from Okinawa and Niigata, Japan
Aysenil Belger
May 31, 2017
Dear Alice, my deepest condolences. I had known Bob for over 30 years, and he was the most gentle, thoughtful, educated, well-travelled, respectful, and simply brilliant colleague I have known. I will miss seeing him and learning from him. You are in my thoughts. Ayse.
Raquel Gur
May 30, 2017
So sad and unexpected.
I recently wrote a letter for Bob for a VA award. Reviewing his CV and lifelong achievements were a testament to a remarkable scientist and leader in the field. In personal interactions Bob was warm, knowledgeable and forward looking.
His impact is beyond Boston. The schizophrenia neuroscience community will miss him.
Deepest condolences to his family and colleagues.
Raquel Gur
Penn, Philadelphia
Jordan Smoller
May 30, 2017
I'm so saddened to hear of Bob's passing. He was an outstanding scientist, mentor and colleague who had a huge impact on our field and the careers of so many young investigators. I had the pleasure of seeing him last month when I spoke at the Harvard Clinical Research Training Program that he co-led. He was as always kind, gracious, curious and eager to help the fellows in their career development. He will be deeply missed and I send my condolescences to his family at this very sad time.
Andy Robin
May 30, 2017
Sorry to hear. We third-year Harvard South Shore just finished our Neuroscience course with him and feel lucky to gotten time with such a legend. But, treat that it was to learn from someone so knowledgeable and smart, it was even nicer to spend mornings with someone so warm, friendly, good-humored, and curious.
Tim O'Farrell
May 30, 2017
Bob McCarley's sudden passing should be noted. He was an extraordinary scientist and a wonderful human being. I find myself thinking of his many acts of personal kindness and his unstinting support of my career at Harvard over many years. I am grateful to have known him. He will not be forgotten.
Marcos Frank
May 30, 2017
Bob will be deeply missed. He was a tremendous colleague and mentor. A seminal scientist that inspired many.
William Rothschild
May 30, 2017
I am so sorry to read of Bob's passing. I first met him during my training at the Mass Mental Health Center from 72-'75. Besides being a brilliant researcher, he was a highly skilled and empathic clinician. I sat down with him years later to encourage his acceptance of an offer to bring his highly honed talents to the Brockton VA Medical Center. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family. I have to also mention that he had a great sense of humor. He always laughed when I accosted him in the VA parking lot and said, Porsche, there is NO substitute.
Subimal Datta
May 30, 2017
I am sorry to hear of Professor Robert McCarley's death. I want to express my most sincere sympathies to his immediate family and our extended family of sleep research community. I was privileged to know him as a great mentor and as a colleague who whole-heartedly supported my research and academic career. I will miss his presence in scientific meetings and his candid advice to our research community.
John Peever
May 30, 2017
Bob was a wonderful colleague. He was kind, thoughtful and an inspirational scientist. He will be deeply missed by his many friends and colleagues in science.
Elizabeth Hur
May 30, 2017
Grateful our paths crossed. Not only was he influential - he trained countless people in neuro and psych, giving us opportunities to develop our careers, including my own - he was insightful, and above all, a genuinely nice man. He was also a strong proponent of studying the basal forebrain in neuromodulation. I will remember him and our conversations fondly. My condolences to his family and lab, whom he was proud of and loved. Rest in peace, Bob.
Johanna Dwyer
May 30, 2017
I am saddened to learn of Bob's death; he was a wonderful physician and scientist.
Bumseok Jeong
May 30, 2017
I can clearly say Bob is my hero as well as role model. With his generosity and great help ten years ago, I was able to visit his lab and to build up my academic career.
I wish him peace there as well.
Sincerely,
Bumseok Jeong
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Korea
Ralph Lydic
May 30, 2017
I am privileged to have worked with Bob for several years. I send my condolences to Alice and to Bob's extended family and colleagues.
Sincerely,
Jun Soo Kwon
May 29, 2017
Alice,
I am deeply shocked and saddened by the unexpected Bob's passing.
He is so gentle, warm and considerate.
When I came to Bob's lab in Boston almost 10 years ago, it was so difficult to adapt myself to State's culture.
However, he took care of me for everything both lab and personal things.
I'd like to offer my sympathy to you and your family on the passing of your husband, Bob McCarley.
Jun Soo from Seoul
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