M.W. Perrine *58

M.W. Perrine, an internationally recognized authority on the effects of alcohol, died peacefully Nov. 15, 2016, at age 88.

At the end of World War II, he enlisted in the Army. In 1953, he graduated from the University of Connecticut and then earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton in 1958. He taught psychology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and later at the Boston University School of Medicine.

Perrine lived in Europe for several years, teaching in Germany and in England at Cambridge University. In 1986, he founded the Vermont Alcohol Research Center, a private nonprofit organization. With a succession of federal grants, he conducted research that advanced the understanding of the role of alcohol and other drugs in behavior and vehicle crashes.

Perrine wrote and co-authored hundreds of peer-reviewed articles. His expertise also included the role of alcohol in violence and aggression. In 1998, he directed a project comparing the drug and alcohol laws and traffic laws of 17 member states of the Council of Europe, a landmark in the developed world. After retiring from his research institute in 2004, Perrine was an expert witness in legal cases involving alcohol and injury.

Perrine is survived by two children and three grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.