James Toolan

Dr. James Michael Toolan BENNINGTON, VT. - Dr. James Michael Toolan, a long-time Bennington-area psychiatrist, died Thursday, November 18th at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. He was 88.Dr. Toolan was born in New York City. He attended Regis, a Jesuit high school scholarship high school and graduated from St. Peter's College. In 1947, he received his M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical School. After an internship at St. Vincent's Hospital, he was a resident in psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City and was subsequently appointed director of the Female Adolescent Ward there. Dr. Toolan also spent two years as a psychiatrist at the Army Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas and then returned to New York City to enter private practice. In 1964, he moved to Bennington as Medial Director of the United Counseling Service, a position he left several years later to concentrate on his private practices in Bennington and Williamstown, Mass., and psychiatric counseling at the Hoosac School and Buxton. Dr. Toolan was predeceased in 1992 by his former wife, Dr. Helene Wallace Toolan. Dr. Toolan's other interests included attending theater and hiking with his dogs on his Sandgate property; he was also an avid reader and birder. He is survived by his loving wife, Lucie McKee of Bennington, his son, Dr. Robin Wallace (Dr. Kelly Selman) of Gainesville, Fla., two step-daughters, Kate Coburn (Kevin Coburn) of Vergennes, Vt., and Josephine McKee (Elaine Angelopoulos) of Brooklyn, N.Y.; four grandsons and three great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to Regis High School, 55 East 84th Street, New York, NY 10028.