Captane P. Thomson M.D.

We are saddened to announce the passing of Dr. Captane Peter Thomson, on July 30, 2023, at the age of 93. A beloved husband, father, brother, friend, mentor, Doctor, public servant, and leader in the field of mental health, "Cap" Thomson dedicated his long and meaningful life to helping alleviate the suffering of those most in need: the mentally ill. Born in Berkeley, CA on July 4th, 1930, Cap was the second generation of his family to attend the University of California, Berkeley and box for the Varsity team. After receiving his MD from the University of California, San Francisco, interning at Denver General Hospital, and serving four years in the US Public Health Service, he completed a residency in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he met the love of his life and wife of 60 years, Helen MacLeod. He then earned an MS in Community Mental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Cap and Helen spent the next year of their marriage at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, before returning to California for Cap to take up the position of Director and Program Chief of Yolo County Mental Health Services, settling in Davis. He held this post for almost three decades, crafting ground-breaking programs to treat the severely mentally ill and help reintegrate people back into their communities. During these years, Cap also served as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UC Davis and UCSF, joyfully passing along his wisdom to the next generation of psychiatrists. Always going where he was needed, Cap gained his Board Certification in Forensic Psychiatry and served as an expert witness at trials and parole hearings of mentally ill persons caught up in the criminal justice system. A lifelong adventurer, Cap treated the indigenous peoples of Alaska as a US Public Health Service Officer on the Bering Sea Patrol, sailed between Hawaii and Japan on a Coast Guard weather ship, and evaluated aspiring American citizens in the US Consulate in Palermo, Italy. Cap loved travelling with his family, visiting National Parks, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, New Zealand, P.E.I. and Cape Breton, Canada, and the gorillas in the wilds of the Cloud Forest of Uganda, Africa. He took his family hiking all over his beloved Sierra Nevada mountains, where as a college student he worked in Yosemite as a fireguard. He also served as a doctor at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Games and returned to duty as a member of the Doctor's Ski Patrol at Sugar Bowl for fifty years. A lifelong runner and member of the Davis Aquatic Masters, Cap swam with a team across Lake Tahoe and completed numerous other endurance swims, triathlons, and eight marathons, including the Boston Marathon. The banjo player and back-up vocalist for the popular folk and bluegrass music band, The Putah Creek Crawdads, the Treasurer of the Yolo County Credit Union, and an avid walker of several generations of Cairn Terriers, Cap was loved by all who knew him for his unfailingly cheerful spirit, humble demeanor, sage guidance, and unflinching willingness always to stand up and fight for what is right and just. To the very end, Cap kept his good humor as he went courageously into his final adventure, at home, visited by numerous friends and neighbors, and surrounded by family. He is survived by his wife Helen, his children Morag, Iain, and Mungo, their spouses Kirsten and Kerry, his grandchildren Darian, Eno, Tamsin, and Emit, his brothers Pate and Duncan, sisters-in-law Judy, Dee, and Vicki, nieces Heather, Allison, and Amy, nephews Colin Thomson and Peter Leiser, brothers-in-law Jim, David, Charlie, Peter, sisters-in-Law Audrey and Camilla, and numerous MacLeod and MacPhee nieces and nephews. His was the definition of a life well-lived and he will be sorely missed. A Celebration of Life will be held on September 23rd at 1 P.M. at the Davis Unitarian Church, 27074 Patwin Road, Davis. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Yolo Hospice; Gorilla Doctors Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis; UC Davis Department of Psychiatry, Early Psychosis Program; the Sutter Davis Hospital Foundation for Psychiatric ER Beds; the Save the Redwoods League; or NAMI Yolo.