Dr. Michael E. Fishman, a child psychiatrist who held several leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, died in Thousand Oaks, California, after a struggle of several years with dementia. Dr. Fishman co-authored three books, including an early study of student mental health at U.S. universities. Working primarily with children, he maintained a private practice in addition to his government posts. He traveled widely for both work and pleasure. He was 92.

A career civil servant, Dr. Fishman helped develop some of the federal government's first programs promoting maternal and child health. At the National Institute of Mental Health, he served as associate director for children and youth. He coordinated research efforts, training programs, and institutional responses to crises affecting children and adolescents.

Dr. Fishman vigilantly protected federal workers from RIFs (reductions in force) by refusing to fire anyone. He reportedly reassigned one person to the janitorial staff so he could remain employed and perform his critical functions.

Along with repeat collaborator Raymond Glasscote, Dr. Fishman co-authored Mental Health on the Campus (1973). Research for the book included making a site visit to the University of Florida at Gainesville shortly after one of the country's first high-profile cases of a college student dying by suicide.

Throughout the 1970s, Dr. Fishman taught Freudian analysis at the former Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Fishman mentored both doctors and non-medical professionals, including Judith Viorst, the author of Necessary Losses (1986).

In his private practice, Dr. Fishman specialized in child and family issues. He said he felt enormous professional satisfaction saving marriages from divorce. But his primary focus was children.

Dr. Fishman graduated from Yale University in 1955 and Yale School of Medicine in 1958. He completed his residency at Yale as well and trained in child psychiatry at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC.

Dr. Fishman was married to Irene (Gershon) Fishman, one of Yale's first female graduate students in mathematics education, from 1960 until her death in 2003. He was subsequently married to Dr. Elizabeth Hillenbrand, a psychologist and professor at George Washington University. She died in 2018.

Dr. Fishman is survived by his sister Janet Gans, daughter Sarah Fishman, son Benjamin Fishman, their spouses, and three grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Haven Free Clinic , PO Box 7611, New Haven, CT 06519.

Haven Free Clinic
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