Alec Skolnick *39

Alec Skolnick, well-known psychiatrist in the SF Bay area, died Jan. 6, 2004, at his San Mateo home. He was 89.

Son of Latvian immigrants, Skolnick earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard and a PhD in psychology from Princeton. Returning to Harvard, he completed his medical training in the wake of Pearl Harbor and served as a psychiatrist in the Army Medical Corps from 1944-46.

After the war, his interests turned to community health and child psychiatry. He founded the San Mateo County Mental Health Clinic, a nationwide model for community-based mental health programs. He also made research trips to the former Soviet Union, to other Soviet-bloc countries, and to ISrael to study the rearing of infants and young children.

In order to give up smoking, Skolnick embarked upon knitting and needlework as he listened to his patients, combining vocation with avocation. He is survived by his wife, Emily, a son, two daughters, and five grandchildren.