Cobb Dies at 80; Early Leader In Mental Research

Dr. Stanley Cobb '10, founder and first cheif of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a pioneer in neuropathological research, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 80.

Cobb, who had been on the faculty at the Medical School since 1919, retired in 1954 as Bullard Professor of Neuropathology, emeritus at Harvard and emeritus Chief of Psychiatry at Mass. General.

"His effort in 1934 to establish a psychiatric service in a general hospital was a tremendously important departure from the traditional treatment of neurotic patients in mental institutions," said Dr. Oliver Cope, Professor of Surgery and a long time associate of Cobb. "It took a great deal of courage to view mental illness as a disease at that time," Cope said.

In 1935, Cobb founded the Institute for Psychoanalysis, the first psychoanalytic association in this country.

"He brought many of the disciples of Sigmund Freud who were persecuted by Hitler to Boston. The Institute was an extraordinary thing for that time," said Cope.

Cobb was severely handicapped by rheumatoid arthritis for the last twenty years of his life. "He continued extraordinary productivity despite an extremely painful and crippling condition," Cope said.

As a teacher Cobb was widely respected and admired. "His kindness and genuine interest in his students generated tremendous affection among them for him," said Dr. John C. Nemiah, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry who studied under Cobb as a resident at Mass. General.

"He was an absolutely wonderful human being," Cope said. "Always on the side of liberal progress, he was utterly against the war in Vietnam," he added.