Allan F. Mirsky

Mirsky

Allan F. Mirsky

Allan F. Mirsky passed away on February 3, 2023, the morning after his 94th birthday, after a long and highly distinguished career in neuropsychology, and a personal life that was lived so well.



Allan grew up in the Bronx, New York. After graduation from the Bronx High School of Science, he went on to receive his bachelor's degree from the City College of New York. There he considered studying engineering, French, pre-med, and biology, until he discovered psychology and never looked back.



Allan went on to receive his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1954. He recalled Yale as a tremendously stimulating environment, with multiple neuropsychological studies going on in the Psychology Department and at the Medical School. In studying WWII veterans with brain injuries, Allan helped to create the Continuous Performance Test, which remains the standard method to assess sustained attention.



Allan was then recruited to the National Institute of Mental Health, where he continued to pursue a lifelong interest in the neural bases of and behavioral effects of seizure disorders. After eight years, he moved to Boston University as a Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurology. In his 19 years there, he continued his research on epilepsy and other attention disorders. He then returned to NIMH as Chief of the Laboratory of Psychology and Psychopathology, where he expanded his research in terms of assessment techniques and clinical groups.



In his 70-year career, Allan made major contributions to studies of attention in numerous clinical disorders, including seizure disorders, schizophrenia, autism, violence, psychopharmacology, and traumatic brain injury. He is particularly well known in the field for his emphasis on brainstem structures and their role in attention, and for partitioning attention into five distinct processes, with each measured by different tests and supported by different brain structures. This model provides a taxonomy of attention that is standard in the field of neuropsychology.



Allan served as President of several professional societies and was one of the founders of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, from which he received the award for Distinguished Service and Contributions to the Profession of Psychology. Other professional awards included the Distinguished Career Award from the International Neuropsychological Society and the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Neuropsychology Award from the National Academy of Neuropsychology.



Stellar as Allan's professional career was, he is also remembered by scores of friends, colleagues, and mentees for his humble and gentle nature, his dry sense of humor, his splendid ability to tell a story, his thoughtfulness, and his generosity of time and attention. His personality was a wonderful mix of charming, kind, witty, sensitive, jovial, and mischievous, and he is dearly missed by all.



Allan is survived by his beloved wife of 36 years, Connie C. Duncan, Ph.D.; a daughter, Laura Mirsky (Mark Rotenberg), and son, Richard Mirsky, from a previous marriage to Carol Vogel Mirsky, who predeceased him; one brother, David P. Mirsky, M.D. (Susan); and his standard poodle, Matti.



A celebration of life will be held at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 6301 River Road, Bethesda, MD, on August 11 at 2 p.m.



Contributions in Allan's memory may be made to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 6 Herndon Ave, Annapolis, MD 21403, or at www.cbf.org/memorial.