Jerry Rothman, 62, whose childhood loss of an older brother inspired him to help hundreds in Chicago suffering from similar tragedies, died of a heart attack Tuesday, March 12, while attending a Buddhist retreat in New York.
Born in St. Louis in 1939, Mr. Rothman grew up in a family where education was emphasized, said his wife, Chris. When he was 11, Mr. Rothman’s 17-year-old brother died when a gun he was cleaning accidentally discharged.
“It introduced [Jerry] to sibling loss–the trauma that the loss of a child could have on a family,” his wife said. “That led him to being particularly compassionate and sensitive to wanting to be involved in helping others.”
Mr. Rothman lived in St. Louis until he was 23, then took a break while attending Washington University to roam New York City as a writer in the early 1960s. During those years, Mr. Rothman rode on a freighter to Europe, where he lived for a few months and drove a Vespa scooter, his wife said.
Because of his brother’s death, Mr. Rothman always believed he also would die young, a fear that kept him from being focused on a career early on, his wife said.
In 1962, however, he returned to college and graduated with a double bachelor’s degree in French and English. Six years later he received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Missouri, and in 1972 he received a doctorate in educational administration from Northwestern University, his wife said.
After college, he got a job as a caseworker at the St. Louis Juvenile Court and later became a community liaison for the Kansas City, Mo., board of education.
In 1969, Mr. Rothman moved to Chicago to work at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, helping the Jewish community understand urban issues.
From August 1972 to February 1974, he moved to Baltimore to become executive director of the Woodburne Center, a residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed children. Then he spent a few months helping found a training center for community organizers in San Francisco.
He moved back to Chicago at the end of 1974 to become executive director of the Southern School in Chicago, which was expanded and renamed Southern Human Services.
During his 17 years as executive director, he helped build Southern Human Services into a large, multiservice agency with three schools for emotionally disturbed children, outpatient counseling and community services.
In 1991, he left Southern to dedicate his attention to the Center for Grief Recovery, which he had started six years earlier to provide counseling for sibling loss. In 1993, he founded the Institute for Creativity and Development, which focuses on general counseling and innovative therapy.
Kathryn Conway, a psychotherapist at both the grief center and the institute, said Mr. Rothman balanced the business side of running a clinic with the emotional needs of his clients.
“He never pressured me to bill hours,” Conway said. “We were able to live the values of the profession.”
Mr. Rothman also liked bird-watching and following the stock market. He was an avid practitioner of Zen and aikido, which led to his study of Tibetan Buddhism during the last decade, his wife said.
Other survivors include a sister, Judy Bear. Services will be at noon on April 28 in McCormick Lounge of Coffey Hall, Loyola University, 6365 N. Sheridan Rd.
