SIDNEY L. WERKMAN MD

WERKMAN SIDNEY L. WERKMAN, MD Sidney Werkman MD, son of Lithuanian and Russian immigrants, father, partner, physician, medical educator and writer died in Spokane, WA on February 28, 2016. He had been a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver before returning to his birthplace, Washington, DC, to become Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School. As a teenager, Dr. Werkman played clarinet professionally in many jazz and dance orchestras. A US Army veteran of WWII, Dr. Werkman served as a medical corpsman and, later, as a Master Sergeant and first solo clarinetist of the newly formed Army Field Band. Dr. Werkman worked with the US Peace Corps as a Senior Psychiatric Consultant at its Washington headquarters as well as in Asia and Africa. For many years, he consulted with the US Government and other institutions, traveling around the world to speak about the joys and travails of living overseas. He loved the outdoors. He facilitated hiking expeditions with Colorado Outward Bound and served as a physician on the Canadian Everest Expedition in 1983. A graduate of Wilson High School in Washington DC, Williams College, and Cornell University Medical School, Dr. Werkman received training in psychiatry at Yale University and the University of Virginia. He specialized in child psychiatry at Children''s Hospital, Washington DC, where he became Associate Professor of the Dept. of Psychiatry before moving to the University of Colorado School of Medicine. His publications include: The Role of Psychiatry in Medical Education (1966), Only a Little Time (1972), and Bringing Up Children Overseas, (1977). In addition, he wrote or contributed to more than 80 scientific articles and chapters in medical texts. Dr. Werkman belonged to St. Alban''s Episcopal Church, numerous professional organizations, and served on many cultural and professional boards including the Colorado Arts Council, the Washington Concert Opera Association, the National Musical Arts, the Washington Performing Arts Society, and MEDUNSA School of Medicine in Pretoria, South Africa. He was the proud co-recipient, with his partner, Mrs. Nancy Folger, of the Laura E. Phillips Angel of the Arts Award in 2008. Friends and family recognized Dr. Werkman as a "Renaissance man" who could effortlessly slip between conversations involving the beauty of the Bach Toccatas, the intricacies of dopamine effects on the amygdala, and the glory of skiing in the Rockies. Having traded the clarinet for the flute in his 20s, Dr. Werkman played throughout his life, often practicing with one of his beloved dogs, Niccolo or Meeko, howling happily beside him. He loved beauty in all forms. He aspired to surround himself with it and to add it to the world. He cared deeply about the humanitarian role doctors are called to and looked for that inclination in applicants when he sat on the admissions committee at Georgetown Medical School. One of his colleagues at Georgetown said she "had never met anyone as compassionate, caring, and knowledgeable as he [was]." Not one to sit still, Dr. Werkman regularly played tennis and went to his office until his mid-eighties. He is survived by his longtime partner, Nancy (Bitsey) M. Folger, of Washington, DC, her three sons and five grandchildren, a son (by his first wife, Alexandra Colt Werkman, deceased, about whom he wrote in Only a Little Time) and daughter-in-law, Russell and Sarah L. Werkman, of Spokane, WA, as well as two grandsons (Isaac James and Robert Alexander "Xander" L. Werkman). A marriage to Phyllis Cox ended in divorce. In his last years, dementia affected Dr. Werkman''s short term memory, something that took a toll on his keen intellect and his conversational artistry. It never stole his sense of humor, however, and he repeatedly joked that his "mind was like a steel trap, just stuck open!" Dr. Werkman averred that he lived a wonderful life; he expressed deep gratitude for all that he had been given by his beloved partner, Bitsey, and the Colt and Cox families who took him and his son in as their own. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Dr. Werkman''s name to Young Concert Artists, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1222, New York, NY, 10107 or the Sitar Arts Center, 1700 Kalorama Road, NW Suite 101, Washington, DC 20009. A memorial service will be held at St. Alban''s Church in Washington in late April or early May. The date and time will be announced.In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Dr. Werkman''s name to Young Concert Artists, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1222, New York, NY, 10107 or the Sitar Arts Center, 1700 Kalorama Road, NW Suite 101, Washington, DC 20009. A memorial service will be held at St. Alban''s Church in Washington in late April or early May. The date and time will be announced.