Dr. Neil Sims

Dr. Neil Barton Sims

Raleigh - Dr. Neil Barton Sims, 89, died peacefully on September 24, 2014, at Transitions LifeCare in Raleigh, NC.

Sims was Chief Clinical Psychologist at the Charles George V.A. Medical Center in Asheville, NC, for 20 years. On retiring he taught psychology at UNC-A and and mediation at the Mediation Center in Asheville.

Neil B. Sims was born January 11, 1925, in Lake Wales, FL, to Vaughnam Adolphus Sims, attorney and mayor, and Ruth Jackson Sims, pianist and organist. After attending Emory at Oxford, the University of Florida, and the University of Michigan, he was awarded a Ph.D. by Purdue University. During WW II he flew for the U.S. Navy, and retired as a major from the U.S. Army Reserve.

Sims began his career as Director of the Guidance Center of Hillsborough County in Tampa, FL and afterward served as clinical psychologist at the V.A. Long Beach (CA) Healthcare System. He then moved to Birmingham, AL, where he became President of the Alabama Psychological Association, taught psychology at the University of Alabama Medical College, and was Chief Clinical Psychologist at the Birmingham V.A. Medical Center.

He was married to Mary Ann Sims, deceased, for 46 years. An accomplished and celebrated clarinetist, Dr. Sims is survived by two sisters, Barbara Stango of Lake Wales, FL, and Thalia Halen of Houston, TX; and two children, Corey Barton Sims of Raleigh, NC, and Jamie Kristine Sims of Richmond, VA, all musicians. Called "Doc" during his final years, he was known as a gentleman with a dry and quick sense of humor who was patient and kind to all.

The family can be contacted at 105 N. Thompson St., Richmond, VA 23221.