Marcia Kraft Goin

Marcia Kraft Goin, M.D., Ph.D., passed away Thursday, April 26, 2018 at age 85 in Los Angeles surrounded by her two daughters, her two sons-in-law and her beloved niece and nephew, after a short but valiant fight with cancer. A renowned psychiatrist, longtime professor at U.S.C. and former president of the American Psychiatric Association, Marcia Stewart Kraft was one of the first women from Middlebury College to attend medical school, at Yale no less! After graduating from medical school, Marcia headed west to UC San Francisco to complete her internship much to her New England-born mother's dismay. "You are going to meet some tall handsome Californian and never come home." Of course, her mother was right. John M. Goin was Marcia's surgery resident/instructor, who dutifully waited until his 30-day role as teacher was over before immediately asking her out to dinner at Fleur de Lys. They fell quickly and deeply in love and were the consummate and perfect couple. They married in 1960 and moved to John's hometown of Los Angeles where Marcia began working at the County/USC hospital. There she devoted herself to coordinating the extensive and challenging outpatient hospital teaching program. In addition, Marcia started up a busy private practice, publishing numerous papers and became a national leader in research on how to teach psychotherapy to residents. She was particularly focused on economically-needy patients, the failure of the mental health system, the stigma of mental illness and the terrible criminalization of the mentally ill. Marcia and John had two daughters and loved to spend family time traveling, playing tennis, reading, cooking and eating together. The Goins loved to socialize and dance, eat, drink and spend summers at the Hollywood Bowl. Marcia made the "work/home" life balance look easy-a dedicated and caring mother not only to her own children but to her nieces and nephews as well as her patients and students who loved her so much. She will be missed by many for her playful spirit, her intense scholarship and her beautiful kind friendship. She was always up for a good time, yet always there to listen when things were serious. She leaves behind two daughters-Jessica Michele and Suzanne Jennifer as well as two sons-in-law William Norton and David Lentz, 5 grandchildren and many beloved nieces and nephews. Memorial Service and Interment will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, May 12, 2018 at Little Church of the Flowers, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry www.ourgap.org  (please indicate: In memory of Marcia Goin, M.D., Ph.D.).