Michael E. Fishman

05/21/1933 - 09/24/2025

Dr. Michael E. Fishman, 92, a child psychiatrist who held several leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, died from complications of dementia on September 24, 2025 in Thousand Oaks, California.
Dr. Fishman helped develop multiple federal government programs promoting maternal and child health. At the National Institute of Mental Health, he served as associate director for children and youth. He researched and wrote on all stages of child development and coauthored Mental Health on the Campus (1973).
Throughout the 1970s, Dr. Fishman taught Freudian analysis at the former Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.
Dr. Fishman graduated from Yale University in 1955 and Yale School of Medicine in 1958. He completed his residency also at Yale and trained in child psychiatry at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC.
Dr. Fishman was married to Irene (Gershon) Fishman from 1960 until her death in 2003. He was subsequently married to Dr. Elizabeth Hillenbrand. She died in 2018.
Dr. Fishman is survived by his sister Janet Gans, daughter Sarah Fishman, son Benjamin Fishman, their spouses, and three grandchildren.
Services entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Funeral Care.