Tom Lynch: Prof Tom Lynch, who died recently aged 77, was the first professor of psychiatry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) medical school. He was also the first to develop a psychiatric unit in a general hospital in the Republic.
A noted and gifted teacher, he influenced several generations of medical students. Some went on to become psychiatrists; many more valued the grounding he gave them in psychological medicine.
In a foreword to teaching notes provided to RCSI students in the 1980s, Tom Lynch wrote: "The contribution of psychiatry to the understanding of the principle and practice of medicine must ultimately be to underline the single fundamental fact, that is the wholeness and dignity of man."
"Physicians are always practising psychiatry simply because they are dealing with sick people," was his advice to each year of aspiring doctors. "We are all members of a caring profession but, being human, our motives are mixed, and our performance may be flawed. A dose of personal humility is required as maintenance therapy."
Thomas Lynch was born in Dublin in 1922, the second-eldest son of Fionan and Brigid Lynch. His father came from a generation of national school teachers; his mother was a teacher, too. Fionan Lynch was one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. He was condemned to death, but was one of four whose sentence was commuted.
He was elected to the first Dáil and appointed a minister in the first government and later a Circuit Court judge.
Tom Lynch was educated at St Mary's College, Rathmines. Keen to study medicine, he entered RCSI medical school in 1941. Internship in the Richmond Hospital, Dublin, followed qualification in 1946 with first-class honours; he was houseman to Mr A. A. McConnell and Prof Leonard Abrahamson.
Initially interested in a career as a consultant physician, he was encouraged by Prof Norman Moore, medical director of St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin, to consider psychiatry. Lynch went to work at St Patrick's from where he gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (MRCPI). He also successfully sat the Diploma in Psychological Medicine.
In 1952 he went to the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London, for a year. He was appointed staff psychiatrist at St Patrick's in 1956, the same year he married Sheila O'Donovan, a medical graduate of University College Cork.
By now keen to implement his own ideas, Lynch left St Patrick's following his appointment as resident medical superintendent (RMS) at St Otteran's Hospital in Waterford. With just under 600 beds, the hospital included an 800-acre farm, for which the RMS was also responsible.
His major achievement during his time in Waterford was to start a psychiatric unit in the local general hospital. Because Ardkeen Hospital had been a TB sanatorium it was divided into small units, which lent itself to the creation of individual departments.
Working closely with the resident medical superintendent of Ardkeen, Dr Fintan Corrigan, as well as his own staff, Lynch opened the first psychiatric unit in a general hospital in the State in 1965 and quickly developed rehabilitation services for patients. Within 18 months, psychiatry was fully integrated with the general hospital.
A little over six years after coming to Waterford, Lynch was appointed the first professor of psychiatry at the RCSI and clinical director of psychiatric services with the Eastern Health Board. He developed psychiatric rehabilitation at St Brendan's Hospital and opened a psychiatric unit at James Connolly Memorial Hospital.
A strong supporter of the Royal College of Psychiatry, Lynch was the first Irish psychiatrist to be elected vice-president of the college. He was also honoured with a travelling fellowship by the American Psychiatric Association.
A co-founder of the Irish Mental Health Association in 1966, he worked closely with the minister for health, Erskine Childers, to increase the understanding of mental health. He remained active throughout his life in the association - he became its chairman in 1976 - working to reduce the stigma of mental illness and to encourage public education.
Lynch served on a number of boards, including the National Drugs Advisory Board, the Eastern Health Board and the National Rehabilitation Board.
He was in great demand as a committee chairman as he had the skill to bring people together and to facilitate harmony.
A past captain and president of Waterford Golf Club, he was captain of Milltown Golf Club from 1981 to 1982. A devoted father, he especially enjoyed the annual family holiday in Dooks, Co Kerry.
He is survived by his wife Sheila, daughters Mairead, Sally-Ann and Fionnuala and his sons Niall and Timothy.
Thomas Lynch: born November 17th, 1922; died January 6th, 2005