BRUCE DOHRENWEND

DOHRENWEND--Bruce P. Bruce P. Dohrenwend died February 4, 2025, at home in Manhattan, NY, at age 97, battling the flu after living for years with Parkinson's Disease. Born in New York City on July 26, 1927, to parents, Gustav J. and Gertrude F. Dohrenwend, Bruce is preceded in death by his parents and his sister Doris, and is survived by his second wife, Catherine J. Douglass. Trained at Columbia (BA, 1950; MA, 1951) and Cornell (PhD, social psychology, 1955), he joined the Columbia faculty in 1958. Before starting college, he served in the United States Navy. Bruce, a psychiatric epidemiologist who studied the effects of social adversity on mental health, spent his entire professional career at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and the affiliated New York State Psychiatric Institute. In 1972, Bruce and his colleagues created the Columbia University Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program, which funded and trained scores of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from a variety of disciplines. The success of these graduates, many of whom have become leaders in the field themselves, joins his outstanding research as a major legacy of Bruce's long career. Bruce also served on the initial board of directors of Her Justice, a non-profit organization founded by his wife Catherine that has been providing critical free legal services to women living in poverty in New York City for over 32 years. Married 40 years, Bruce and Catherine maintained residences together in Manhattan and in East Hampton, NY. He was an avid swimmer and a lover of fine dining, theater and the arts. Friends, family, colleagues and former students remember him for his kindness, brilliance, patience, gentleness, and his generous and loyal friendships. No public funeral is planned. Donations in Bruce's memory may be made to the Parkinson's Foundation -- www.parkinson.org or to Her Justice --www.herjustice.org.