William "Rick" Rickles

1933 - 2016

August 22, 1933 - April 4, 2016 William H. Rickles, MD, MS born in Marshall, Texas on August 22, 1933 to William and Mary Rickles, passed away in Los Angeles, CA. Rick graduated from SMU, went on to do a Master's at Baylor Medical School in Neurophysiology, and received his MD from Harvard Medical School. He spent the next summer as a Grass Fellow at Woods Hole Marine Biological Institute doing research, and then began his internship at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He joined the Air Force as a flight surgeon and wound up at the 6571st Aeromedical Research Primate Laboratory at Holloman Air Force base near Alamogordo, New Mexico. He did his residency in Psychiatry at UCLA and spent 15 years as chief of the clinical Psychophysiology Research Lab at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. He did his psychoanalytic training at the LA Institute (now NCP). He published papers and taught many courses. His private practice was, as he referred to it, multimodal, from Virtual Reality Immersion Therapy for phobias, neurofeedback for stress related disorders to psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. He was an expert skier, spent years on the Mount Baldy Ski Patrol and then switched to ice skating and ice dancing with his wife, Patti, in the early 90's until the Culver City Ice Arena closed in 2014. He was a talented photographer, played the piano and recorder and loved Renaissance and Baroque music. He was game for anything......as he always said, "All things in moderation, but all things." He was loving, kind, generous, and valued his friendships. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, sons, Ricky and Derek, daughter, Nicolette, and grandchildren, River and Lukas. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, June 26 from 2pm-4pm at the New Center For Psychoanalysis, 2014 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025 In lieu of flowers, please make donations to his favorite charity, Southern Poverty Law Center, Mobile, Alabama.