Holmes, Douglas 1933-2007

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born December 7, 1933, in Bridgeport, CT; died of complications from progressive supranuclear palsy, May 23, 2007, in Weston, CT. Psychologist, researcher, and author. Holmes was best known for his work on understanding such aspects of aging as dementia, the life of the homebound, and sexuality among seniors. After serving in the U.S. Army for three years, in 1958 he graduated of Tufts University. He then earned his doctorate from New York University in 1962. During the 1960s, he conducted research at various facilities, including for the National Council on Alcoholism, the New York City Department of Health, and the Associated Young Men-Young Women Hebrew Associations of Greater New York. At the last of these, he was director of research in the late 1960s. Originally, Holmes's work focused on children's needs, and he conducted studies on the effects of child abuse and of early education. He later became more concerned with the problems the elderly faced and was most often recognized for his studies on meal delivery services to the aged. He was especially concerned with improving these services for minority elderly. Holmes was director of the Center for Community Research in New York City from 1969 to 1974, and in 1972 he was named president of Community Research Applications, Inc., in New York. In the mid-1980s he founded the research division for the Hebrew Home for the Aged in the Bronx, New York; he was director of the research division and the national Alzheimer's center there before retiring. His books, which he wrote with his wife, Monica Bychowski Holmes, as well as other coauthors, include The Therapeutic Classroom (1974) and The Service Handbook for Older Americans (1979).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, May 25, 2007, p. C20.