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Wagner H. Bridger, 81
Research psychiatrist was civil rights activist
Dr. Wagner H. Bridger, 81, died on Feb. 10 after a long illness in Fountain Hills, Ariz.
A research pioneer in the fields of biological psychiatry, psychopharmacology and neonatology, he was a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and acting chairman of the department of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York before moving to Philadelphia in 1982. There he became chair of the department of psychiatry at the Medical College of Pennsylvania at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, which later became part of Drexel University.
With over 180 publications, he was a founder of the Society of Biological Psychiatry and was appointed president of the society in 1988 along with being editor emeritus of its journal from 1992-1997. A committed social activist, he helped found the Medical Committee for Human Rights in 1964. Civil rights, peace and justice were causes that occupied his entire life.
Dr. Bridger and his family started spending time in Wellfleet in the early ‘70s and they bought one of the oldest houses in Truro, formerly the old Whitman house, in 1992. They had to sell it this fall because it was not handicapped accessible.
A devoted husband, father and grandfather, he was a lover of life’s pleasures, including Cuban cigars, Wellfleet oysters and martinis.
He is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Rita Hayes Bridger; his seven children, Eric Bridger, Cindy Bridger, Laurie Bridger, Colleen Jacobson, Mary Jane Sanacore, Colo Hayes III and Christopher Hayes; and 11 grandchildren.
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John Carbone, 82
Cecelia F. Veara, 93
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Feb 26th, 2009