WILLIAM A. O'CONNOR Ph.D.

1939 - 2014

William A. O'Connor Ph.D, died February 7, 2014 at Hospice House surrounded by his family. Besides grandchildren Harper, Leah, Libby, Faith, Sam, Will, Luke and Jenni, survivors include his wife, Sharon and his four adult children, Bill Jr., Robin, Matthew and Kursten and a brother, Edward. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri December 18, 1939 to Margaret and William M. O'Connor and was the oldest of three sons. He is preceded in death by his father and mother and a younger brother, Eugene. Dr. O'Connor was a graduate of Rockhurst High School, completed undergraduate work at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, was awarded a degree of Doctor of Philosophy: Psychology and graduated with honors from the University of Kansas in 1967. He was among the few across the nation to graduate from the Boulder scientist- practitioner model, to build a professional career that included psychological research and running a psychology practice in the Brookside area. It included training and supervision of doctoral students as well as psychological, neuropsychological and PTSD assessment as well as individual and marital therapies. After graduation from KU, Dr. O'Connor continued as a member of the Graduate Faculty in the Clinical Psychology Department in a training and supervisory role of doctoral students, for nearly two decades. As early as 1980 Dr. O'Connor presented a paper on 'Ecological Models, Family Systems and Beyond' at the American Psychological Association Conference in Montreal, Canada. By 1984, he co-edited 'Ecological Approaches to Clinical and Community Psychology' for the Wiley Series on the ecosystems approach. He served as Primary or Co- Investigator of numerous projects and was published in journals ranging from Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, Law and Human Behavior, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Psychiatric Annals, American Journal of Psychiatry, Family Process and Journal of Community Psychology. Dr. O'Connor was also well known across the country for his expertise on the subject of older adults and aging, risk assessment for violence and PTSD. He was a frequent keynote speaker for mental health continuing education seminars. He was also invited to conduct training sessions with attorneys involved in death penalty work in Arkansas, South Carolina and Missouri. He traveled to federal and state prison settings and conducted psychological and neuropsychological evaluation services; he was called to testify about those findings in several high profile cases in Missouri. Of the clinical evaluations conducted with those incarcerated in federal and local jails it was said he raised the bar on assessment and his testimony provided for a more just meting of sentencing. He was the first psychologist to provide testimony on Duty to Warn and assessment of risk for violence at point of release from a state hospital, in Durflinger-vs-Osawatomie State Hospital in the early 1980's. His focus on clinical research on violence became a more full time focus with funding by the National Institute of Mental Health project, "The Prediction of Violent Behavior," where he was Senior Research Associate for the Greater Kansas City Mental Health Foundation. The NIMH project looked at the interaction of behavioral settings, situational factors and disruption of bonding as contributors to violence in increasing or decreasing acts of violence. He served as graduate faculty with the University of Missouri School of Medicine and it was through TMC that Dr. O'Connor served as Gerontological Mental Health Consultant for Geriatric Resources Corporation. This was an ecological-based intervention process where a team of professionals made home visits and worked to not disrupt the older adult from his/her familiar setting while working to resolve the problems. He was also recognized throughout Truman Medical Center and Jackson County Probate Court for his clinical evaluations regarding older adult issues and guardianship/conservator issues. Dr. O'Connor was well known through the 1980's in the Missouri Division of Family Services and Juvenile Court/Juvenile Offices in or around Buchanan and Jackson Counties for his work on child protection, his clinical evaluations for neglect and abuse and in particular, his expert testimony in behalf of the child. Dr. O'Connor raised and bred Arabian horses in the farm years of Paola; he showed at the American Royal and through those years, enjoyed traveling the Arabian horse circuit with his children. He also enjoyed 25 years of scuba diving and was an accomplished underwater videographer and photographer; every trips' memories were captured as he returned home to edit and finalize photos for wall hanging and DVD's. His underwater photograph of feather worms appeared in the National Geographic Traveler for the 1995 Calendar, selected from among 26,000 pictures. Diving became less of a priority as grandchildren came onto the scene and his photography and writing shifted from clinical reports to stories for the grandchildren that he gifted each holiday for those next five years: Whamaby Worgsnortle and the Musical Pig Band, Space Trains, World Adventure Expeditions, The Edge of the Universe and Where is Winston. Every October he would start the process of writing stories, creating the characters out of clay, baking them in the oven and then photographing them in action for the story. When the process was final, he had a soft bound book for each grandchild and a DVD of the book as well. He was an avid gardener and took great pride in growing tomatoes, all of which he called Bob; they accompanied him on all the dive trips to Bonaire, where he photographed them snorkeling or sunbathing on the deck of the dive boat. Dr. O'Connor was just known as Bill; he will always be remembered for his generosity of spirit, intellect, keen wit, kindness and soft humor. The family held a Celebration of Life at his favorite restaurant on February 16th and a private graveside ceremony the first day of Spring, March 20th. You may leave condolences at Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home & Cemetery (816)942-2004, MtMoriah-Freeman.com