Dr. Freddy Harold Frankel

Dr. Freddy Harold Frankel, former Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, passed away on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at Lasell Village in Newton. He was 97.

Fred was born in Benoni, South Africa, son of Ethel and Ludwig Frankel. At the outset of World War II, Fred was a young medical student at Witwatersrand University. He misrepresented his age to enlist; those who know him say it was likely the only lie he ever told. Fred was wounded in Italy while treating soldiers on the front lines, earning him the South African Bronze Star.

Following the war, Fred returned to South Africa to complete his medical degree in psychiatry. In 1946, he met the love of his life, Betty Lilian Silberman, and they married in 1947.

In 1952, Fred was offered the post of Chief Resident in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. He returned home after residency but several years later, against the backdrop of apartheid, the couple made the difficult decision to leave South Africa. Fred reached out to colleagues in Boston, and Mass General sponsored his return as a member of the Department of Psychiatry in 1962.

Dr. Frankel became a leader in Boston’s mental health community. A member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School since 1969, Dr. Frankel initially practiced psychiatry at Mass General Hospital and later served as Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital from 1986-1997. He published widely, presented papers around the world, and trained generations of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.

“Freddy was a wonderful mentor, colleague, department chairman and academic psychiatrist. He led by example and was committed to the highest standards of quality care, respect for those we serve, and academic rigor,” said Dr. William Greenberg, MD, Chief of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “In a field that can at times be too vulnerable to transient notions and enthusiasms, he was guided by evidence and experience. Memories of his compassionate and careful interactions with patients serve as a beacon to those of us who witnessed them.”

Throughout his career, Dr. Frankel had an unwavering sense of integrity and never hesitated to take unpopular positions. At a time when electroshock therapy was highly controversial, he saw that under correct circumstances, it could have life-saving results in the treatment of depression. In 1978, he was appointed Chairperson of the Task Force on Electroconvulsive Therapy of the American Psychiatric Association.

He also helped establish training programs in the use of hypnosis as a clinical tool and served as Chair of the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis from 1978-1982. Dr. Frankel was an outspoken critic of the overuse and misuse of hypnotherapy. When False Memory Syndrome rose to epidemic proportions, tearing families apart by creating false memories of sexual abuse, he helped to change the way hypnotherapy was applied and limit its use as evidence in prosecutions.

When he retired from medical practice at age 73, he returned to what had been his first avocation, poetry. Fred found inspiration in poems he had scribbled in a journal during the war. Barbara Helfgott Hyett, leader of the Workshop for Publishing Poets at Harvard’s Extension School and one of Fred’s mentors, remarked how unusual a privilege it was to work with a wise and aged poet who used source material from his youth, untouched for more than half a century.

Over the next two decades, Fred published a chapbook, three books of poetry, and dozens of poems in literary journals and anthologies. In 2003, he won the Robert Penn Warren First Prize of New England Writers. He remained a popular figure at poetry readings into his nineties.

He is survived by his wife, Betty, with whom he shared a remarkable 75-year romance; children Neville Frankel (Marlene Nusbaum), Isabel Rachlin (Jeffrey Rachlin) and Dr. Allan Frankel (Terri Frankel); and twelve grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, and eight beloved nieces and nephews. Fred is predeceased by three sisters, Bella Schmahmann, Fanny Emdon, and Berenice Kaplan.

The family is deeply grateful to Michael (Franklin) Amoateng, Fred’s devoted caregiver of five years, for his tender care, humor, and profound warmth.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to The Lasell Village Benevolent Fund, 120 Seminary Avenue, Auburndale, MA 02466 or Good Shepherd Community Care Hospice, 160 Wells Avenue, Newton, MA 02459.

A graveside service will be held at Newton Cemetery, 791 Walnut Street, Newton, MA on Friday, September 10 at 12:00pm.

To view the service on-line, please use this link: https://youtu.be/OYn2kJA5oq0