Alan S. Prager M.D.

Alan S. Prager, MD, of Waban and Wellfleet, MA died on August 29, 2013 at the age of 87 from complications of Alzheimers. Beloved by his family, he leaves his wife Jane, daughter Laura, her husband Frederick Millham and their children Samuel and Lucia; daughter Sarah, her husband Steven Smith and their children Benjamin, Jessica, and Nathan; daughter Margaret, her husband, William Paine and their children David and Susannah; sister, Ruth Zachary, nephews Andrew and Michael Zachary, and niece Eve Zachary Mykytyn. Born in Boston, Dr. Prager attended the Boston Latin School, Hebrew College, and Harvard College. While enrolled at Harvard Business School, he served as a lieutenant in the Navy during WWII. When he left the service, he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, but then decided on a career in medicine and completed his pre-medical studies at the University of Chicago before ultimately returning to Boston to attend Boston University School of Medicine. He was a true renaissance man. Fluent in both French and Hebrew, he studied economic theory and political philosophy, and loved poetry, music and history. Always interested in the processes of child development, he trained in psychiatry at Boston State Hospital and then in child psychiatry at Childrens Hospital, Boston. A masterful clinician-educator with an appointment at Harvard Medical School, he served on the faculty at the Judge Baker Childrens Center, in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Childrens Hospital, Boston, and as a lecturer at Simmons College. His family, friends, patients, supervisees and psychiatric colleagues sought his wise counsel and admired his joy in learning, his wit, fondness for puns and silly jokes, his broad, infectious, enveloping smile, and his amazing ability to understand and connect with people, particularly children. Services were held at Temple Israel, Boston, MA on Sunday, September 1, 2013. Donations in Dr. Pragers honor may be made to "Stand for Children Massachusetts," 38 Chauncy Street, Suite 700, Boston, MA 02110, Attn: Laura Gardner.