Eric Collins

I just recently learned of Eric's passing, and am surprised and saddened. I had the privilege of working with Eric for a few years in the early 2000's at Columbia. He was always a source of support and good cheer. My deepest condolences to his family.

There are no words that can express how profoundly saddened I am by Eric's far-too-premature passing. Meeting Eric and having him as a friend was the single best thing to happen to me during medical school. He was the ultimate polymath. He could talk about so many diverse topics with an enormous depth of knowledge, the very personification of a Google search engine before Google existed. He was kind, empathetic, and possessed unmatched wisdom and brilliance. One of my proudest moments was...

Dear Collins family, Dr. Eric Collins fundamentally altered the course of my life. He will be missed as my emotional messiah, cheeky sounding board, and a constant source of belly laughter in my life. In many ways, he was the heart and soul of my recovery journey, and he believed in me despite all signs to the contrary. I met Dr. Collins at 17 years old - following an episode that took me off the Ivy League path and placed me firmly in the world of addiction and psychiatry. I hated...

I am so sorry to learn of Eric´s passing. I knew him from LHS Chorus. My mom would shuttle Eric, Susie, and I to Maryland State Chorus rehearsals. We never had a dull moment and we were all very fond of him. admired his kindness, sense of humot, and intelligence. It is strange that only a few days ago he popped into my mind. I don´t know why, but I attempted to look him up. Of course I could not find him as many share his name. It is wonderful how he used his gifts to help so many. My...

The Columbia Psychiatry resident class of 1994 all send their condolences to Mary and the whole family. We have been thinking of all of you and remembering our work with Eric 30 years ago. We consider Eric to have been without question the most dedicated, sincere and thoughtful physician among us. What is so important for a psychiatrist is to be engaged and humble but also to be precise and good humored. Eric manifested these traits right from the start when we were completely untrained...

Eric was a deeply respected colleague and dear friend to many of us in the Department. He had a gift for seeing the humor in many situations -- signaling its discovery with his infectious laugh. He was intensely curious about far-ranging subjects and had a keen intellect. He had a rapier wit tempered with kindness and loved wordplay in all its forms. Once we were holding a clinical staff meeting to review eligible study participants. As Eric entered the room, someone was referring to a...