Dr. Arthur William Epstein

Dr. Arthur William Epstein, a retired physician and Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Tulane University School of Medicine, died on November 8, 2005 in Austin, Texas, where he had temporarily resided after evacuating from New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. He was buried in Hebrew Rest Cemetery in New Orleans on November 13, after a private graveside service, Rabbi Edward Cohn of Temple Sinai officiating. Born in New York City on May 15, 1923, to Anne Bass and Jacob E. Epstein, he earned two degrees from Columbia University - an A.B. from Columbia College and an M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons. After training in neurology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, he moved to New Orleans in 1950 and trained in psychiatry and psychoanalysis at the Tulane School of Medicine. Active in national professional organizations, he served as president of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. The Louisiana Psychiatric Association named him "Psychiatrist of the Year" in 1992. His publications include scores of scientific articles for professional journals and collections, and a book, Dreaming and Other Involuntary Mentation: An Essay in Neuropsychiatry, published in 1996, which summarizes his lifelong research in dreaming. He was passionate about creative writing, authoring An Anatomist's Dream of Love, The Dissecting Room, The Lady and the Serpent, A Contemporary Religious Service, Bridge Cross, and Poems of Later Life. Survived and mourned by his wife of 50 years, Leona; son David Byron Epstein and his partner Alexander Bargioni; daughter Nona Kathryn Epstein, her husband Daniel Samuels, and their daughters Leah Ruth and Vera Ann; daughter Emily Vera Epstein of Arlington, Virginia, her husband Yoshiharu Kobayashi, and their sons Eugene and Simon; son James Jacob (Jack) Epstein of Athens, Ohio, and his wife Mary Strother; sister Florence Epstein of Mallorca, Spain; sister Roslyn Weiner of White Plains, New York, her husband Aaron Weiner, their son Robert Weiner of Ithaca, New York and daughter Julie van den Arend of London, England; and numerous friends, colleagues and patients. A memorial will be scheduled for next spring in New Orleans.