Obituary of Paul S. Nemetz

Brighton: Saturday, March 15, 2014, peacefully in his bed at the Jewish Home of Rochester, surrounded by family. He was 78 years old and had been in poor health in recent years. Paul was a psychiatrist by training but had passions that ranged from Russian history, to classical music, to photography, to the education of his children, to competitive marksmanship with high-powered rifles, for which he manufactured his own ammunition. Born in New York City, he grew up in Ridgewood, at the border of Brooklyn and Queens, and had a stellar academic career at Richmond Hill High School--where he was also a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and a serious high school basketball player. He earned admission to Harvard University and graduated from Harvard in 1957 with a BA in Anthropology. He married Janet DeMayo of Kew Gardens, Queens, in 1957. Paul received his M.D. degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx in its third graduating class of 1961 and completed his residency training in psychiatry there. In 1965 he was drafted into the Air Force and decamped with his young family for Minot, North Dakota. He was a base psychiatrist at Minot Air Force Base in an era when the mental health of those directly responsible for nuclear bombers and ICBMs was of national importance. He was proud that during his service no renegade airman from Minot ever started World War Three. The Nemetz family made life-long friends of fellow New Yorkers Harvey and Patti Klein, who were also stationed at Minot. After his service was complete, he returned to New York, and became an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, supervising new psychiatric residents in their training program. He was a popular and entertaining clinical teacher. He grew a successful private psychiatric practice in addition to his academic duties. His four children were born during that era: Sarah (1960), Avram (1961), Miriam (1963) and Jacob (1967)--their biblical names ironically standing beside Paul’s lifelong absence of religious sensibility. As his children grew older, possessed of a searching spirit, Paul moved through a series of academic psychiatry positions in different universities in different cities. After ten years at Einstein in the Bronx he left for Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn in 1977. After almost moving to Dallas in 1979 (but turning down an offer), he and Janet epically returned to North Dakota in 1981 where he was hired at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine in Fargo. He and Janet lasted 4 years in Fargo before “returning to civilization” (Philadelphia), where Paul was at the Medical College of Pennsylvania beginning in 1985. He became a professor in the Dept of Psychiatry and was truly beloved by his students. After 9 years in Philadelphia, recruited by the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, he and Janet landed and settled where their first child, Sarah, was already living with her family in Rochester, NY, in 1994. There Paul worked and pursued his passions, until he retired because of health reasons in 2003. Paul was predeceased by his parents Harry and Esther Waldman Nemetz. He is survived by his beloved and devoted wife Janet DeMayo Nemetz; his four loving children Sarah Nemetz, M.D. (Michel Berg, M.D.), Avram Nemetz, M.D. (Linda Kane), Miriam Nemetz (Lee Greenfield), and Jacob Nemetz; and his six grandchildren Benjamin Berg, Matthew Berg, Jonah Nemetz, Isaac Nemetz, Emma Greenfield, and Joseph Greenfield. He was a loving and supportive father, and his family will dearly miss him. Janet was the love of his life and remained his rock-solid center for over 56 remarkable years. The family would like to express its gratitude to the Jewish Home of Rochester, especially the staff of 6NE and 4NE and Dr. Bernard Shore, who took exceptional care of Paul for 10 years. Dr Nemetz's funeral service will be MONDAY, 11AM at Temple Sinai (363 Penfield Road). Click Here For A Map To The Temple Interment, Mt. Hope Cemetery. The family will be receiving on MONDAY from 7-9PM, TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY from 2-4 & 7-9PM at 104 Ashley Drive, 14620. Click Here For A Map To The Shiva House Home Brighton, New York Birthplace New York, New York Donations Temple Sinai