Robert E. Litman, co-founder of suicide prevention center, dies at 88

Robert E. Litman, co-founder of suicide prevention center, dies at 88
Dr. Litman opened the pioneering L.A. center, the first of its kind, in 1958, when research into suicide was almost nonexistent; its innovations include a 24-hour suicide hotline.

By Valerie J. Nelson

March 7, 2010


Dr. Robert E. Litman, a psychiatrist who co-founded the nation's first comprehensive suicide prevention center more than 50 years ago in Los Angeles and carried out groundbreaking work there, has died. He was 88.

Litman died Feb. 14 of acute leukemia at a daughter's Manhattan Beach home, said his wife, Connie.

"He was something of a genius," said Sam Heilig, a social worker who helped establish the center. "He was a prominent psychoanalyst . . . and a very creative thinker. He did strong, imaginative, adventurous work."

In 1958, when research into suicide was almost nonexistent and largely discouraged, the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center opened in a dilapidated, abandoned tuberculosis ward on the grounds of Los Angeles County Hospital.
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Robert E. Litman