Frederic M. Quitkin ’58

Fred Quitkin died Oct. 9, 2005, of pancreatic cancer.

Fred came to Princeton from Samuel V. Tilden High School in New York, where he played football and baseball, and was president of his senior class. At Princeton he majored in biology, played freshman baseball, and was a member of the Pre-Med Society.

Upon graduation Fred attended and received his medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Later he received a D.M.Sc. and became a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He dedicated his career to understanding and relieving mental illness, publishing more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Fred was the founding director of the Depression Evaluation Service and became a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Fred developed the concept of an atypical depression that is quite chronic, where people overeat and oversleep and respond very specifically to a group of medications that aren't used that much. In addition to his work on atypical depression and schizophrenia, Fred conducted research on other psychiatric disorders, including those associated with drug and alcohol dependence.

To his son, Matt, and daughters Megan and Rachel, the class sends deepest sympathy.