Hammersley Praised for Contributions

Donald Hammersley, M.D., who helped lead APA for 26 years, died at age 82 in Bethesda, Md., on July 16. He had congestive heart failure and diabetes. Hammersley was deputy medical director of APA from 1971 to 1988, and prior to that spent 10 years directing the Association's professional-services and professional-education projects. In these posts he had a major say in decisions affecting issues such as accreditation standards for a wide range of psychiatric facilities, the fight for better insurance coverage for mental illness treatment, especially its inclusion in the new Medicare program, and peer-review and quality-assurance criteria.

Hammersley was also the editor of the APA journal Hospital and Community Psychiatry (now Psychiatric Servicess) from 1970 through 1980.

Hammersley graduated from medical school at the University of Wisconsin and received his psychiatric training at the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kan., and had a long tenure as a member of its board of trustees.

Former APA President John Talbott, M.D., who succeeded Hammersley as editor of Hospital and Community Psychiatry, called him “one of the nicest, kindest, and most generous gentlemen I've ever encountered. Never wanting credit or the limelight, he was willing to help everyone, however he could, to help APA, American psychiatry, and the patients we serve.” Talbott added that he is “especially grateful” for Hammersley's“ heartfelt support of the care of patients who were severely and chronically mentally ill and of those working in public systems of care.”

APA President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D., who worked closely with Hammersley for many years when she headed APA's education division, called him “a marvelous advocate for our profession and our patients.”

She noted that while he was a soft-spoken and modest man, he was “a highly effective problem solver who was especially skilled at seeing the covert and underlying issues, as well as getting diverse and disparate groups to put aside differences and work cooperatively.” ▪