Dr. Karl Lanocha

Dr. Karl Lanocha

Sacramento, CA - Dr. Karl Lanocha, 68, formerly of Hopkinton, passed away peacefully with family by his side on May 2, 2023, following a brief illness. Born in 1954, Karl was the eldest of five children in a family tightly interwoven into the thriving Polish community in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Loyola High School in Towson, Maryland, and went on to study linguistics and international relations at Georgetown University. His love of foreign languages and travel led him to continue his studies at the prestigious Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. On returning from Poland, he completed a degree in biology at Towson State University and subsequently received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in psychiatry at The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital and a fellowship at The Tavistock Clinic in London, and he went on to become the Assistant Director of Residency Training at Sheppard Pratt. In 1989 he became the Medical Director of Psychiatric Services at Concord Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, a role he held for over 20 years.

Karl will be remembered for his tireless dedication to his patients and his work expanding transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy during his four-decade career in medicine. Karl was among the first psychiatrists in the nation to offer this revolutionary treatment in a clinical setting. In 2009 Karl founded the TMS Center of New England in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in 2013 he joined Mindful Health Solutions in Sacramento, California, as Director of TMS Education. He was highly regarded as an expert in the field, co-editing a clinical textbook on TMS for the American Psychiatric Association. He was also a founding member of the Clinical TMS Society and was honored as one of the Society's 2023 Fellows.

Karl's greatest joys in life were his beloved wife of nearly 40 years, Julie, his children, Leigh and Maxwell, and his granddaughter, Eleanor. He loved traveling, and memories of family trips to Poland, Switzerland, the Outer Banks, and Disney World, among others, are ones his family will always treasure. While Karl had the opportunity to travel to and live in many places around the world, the quiet woods of Hopkinton, New Hampshire, were close to his heart as the place he, Julie, and their children called home for more than two decades and shared many of their happiest days.

Karl had a passion for cooking, was a prolific smuggler of fine cheeses, and could craft a gourmet meal from scratch. His breadth of knowledge and command of facts meant discussions on almost any aspect of history, philosophy, music, art, and cinema were always entertaining, engaging, and educational.

Karl was preceded in death by his father and mother, N. Frank and Teresa Lanocha, and his brother, Stephen Lanocha. He will be deeply missed by his wife, Julie Lanocha, of Sacramento, CA; daughter, Leigh Lanocha, and her husband, Thomas Fitzgerald, of Boston, MA; son, Maxwell Lanocha, and his wife, Natalie, of Portland, OR; granddaughter, Eleanor Lanocha, of Portland, OR; sisters, Teresa Sisson, Janet Fedder, and Lisa Lanocha, of Baltimore, MD; and his cherished cockapoo, Theo. He will be remembered fondly by his extended family, friends, colleagues, and countless patients whose lives he touched.

A celebration of life will be held in Maryland at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org) or the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA (www.spiritrock.org).