By David Pruitt, MD
[Winter 2007; Vol. 33, No. 2; Pg 8]
Dr.
Frank T. Rafferty Jr., a friend and colleague to many of us, died of a ruptured
aorta on October 1, 2006 at the age of 81.
Born
in Greenville, Mississippi, Frank grew up in Memphis, Tennessee.
He graduated from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota and the St.
Louis University School of Medicine.
He interned at St. Louis Hospital and did residency and fellowship
training at the University of Colorado in Denver.
During
the Korean War, Frank served in the Army in the medical post of resident
psychiatrist at an evacuation hospital in Tokyo.
After he left the military in 1955, Frank began his academic career at
the University of Utah, followed by a decade at the University of Maryland,
Baltimore. He
concluded his academic career in 1979 as Director of the Institute for Juvenile
Research in Chicago.
Frank
then became Medical Director at the Brown Schools and Vice President for Medical
Affairs at Healthcare International in Austin, Texas.
He
finished his professional career as a general child psychiatry practitioner in
Monroe, Louisiana followed by work in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia.
Frank
was ahead of his time, a pioneer who pushed the envelope, developing ideas and
programs to better serve our patients.
Before it was fashionable, Frank was developing programs for children in
the schools, head start, and juvenile justice and building model programs in day
hospitals, and variations of intensive hospital/residential programming.
Through the Academy and the APA, Frank pushed our profession to promote
high standards. He
was appointed one of the first representatives of child psychiatry on the Joint
Commission, setting standards for childrens’ psychiatric facilities.
Frank
had a unique blend of idealism and realism.
This mixture of virtues allowed him to promote a balanced formula of
access, cost and quality for effective psychiatric care.
Frank
was a maverick, a rebel and, at times, a renegade.
He was not afraid to go against the sentiment of the crowd if he believed
it served the idealism/realism mix that constituted his vision for our
profession.
I
first met Frank at an Annual Meeting of the Society of Professors of Child
Psychiatry. A
perennial issue debated there was whether Divisions of Child Psychiatry were
best situated in Departments of Psychiatry.
Frank took action, calling for a formal vote, demanding before the ballot
that the Professors abide by the results.
The vote supported the status quo, that Child Psychiatry Divisions best
remain within our Adult Departments.
After that vote, the endless discussions lessened.
Frank
was committed to advocating for children and our profession.
He had a voracious appetite for serving the profession as a consultant,
officer and committee appointee.
Frank
was founding Chair of the Work Group on Consumer Issues,
Chair of the APA Council on Children, Adolescents and their Families, and
a member of the steering committee for the Academy’s Project Prevention.
Frank
had passion, a fire in the belly as well as a soft, gentle side.
He spent the last decade of his life caring for his son, Gerry, who had
severe physical and emotional disabilities, making sure he had the best care
Frank could provide. That
represented the kind of care and compassion that was at Frank’s core.
He
is survived by two sons, four daughters, 15 grandchildren and his long time
companion, Shirley Plumber.