Jerald Kay, 79, died on Oct. 27, 2024, in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. He was preceded in death by his parents Max and Miriam Kay of Washington, D.C. and his wife of 50 years, Dr. Rena Kay. He is survived by his three children Sarah Kay (Josh Lewis), Rachel Kay (Jim Brennan), and Jonathan Kay (Mary Spadoni) and his five grandchildren Mira and Talia Lewis, Miles and Naomi Brennan, and Julia Kay. He leaves his brother Dr. Douglass Kay and a sister, Bette Kurstin, both of Boca Raton, Fla.
Dr. Kay graduated from Washington University in St. Louis where he majored in religious studies and the University of Maryland School of Medicine where he met his future wife. His residency and fellowship training in general and child and adolescent psychiatry was completed at the Cincinnati General Hospital-University of Cincinnati.
He rose from the rank of instructor to professor and vice chair of Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine before he assumed the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio, a position he held for a quarter of a century. At Wright State University he was named Faculty Member of the Year for the university, the Frederick A. White Distinguished Professor of Professional Service, and the Outstanding Faculty Member of the Medical School. Dr. Kay also held the position of adjunct professor of psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.
Dr. Kay published more than 200 books and scientific papers, including his two volume, four edition textbook, Psychiatry. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, an American Psychiatric Association publication, and an associate editor of the American Journal of Psychotherapy. He served on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals and received the American Psychiatric Association-National Institute of Mental Health Seymour Vestermark Award for outstanding contributions to psychiatric education and the Educator of the Year from the Association of Academic Psychiatry.
He was a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He chaired many professional organizational councils and committees of the American Psychiatric Association and was chair of the Residency Review Committee in Psychiatry of the Accrediting Council on Graduate Medical Education.
Dr. Kay’s academic interests were in psychotherapy research and education, ethics, child psychiatry, college mental health, psychiatric and medical education, and psychosomatic medicine, to name but a few. He presented to psychiatric organizations and academic departments of psychiatry throughout the world. He maintained a private practice of physicians and academic faculty for many years and was widely recognized as an outstanding clinician.
Dr. Kay was a loving and adored father, grandfather, brother and uncle. He was a passionate educator with a deep commitment to his own lifelong learning and was known as a talented photographer, acrylic painter and musician. He participated in many musical groups in Cincinnati, including drums for the New Horizons Dixieland Band, the New Horizons Swing Band, and the Domes Dixieland Band, trombone in the Gentlemen of Swing and Ron Purdon Swing Band, euphonium in the New Horizons Concert Band, and tuba in the St. Therese Brass Sextet, Cincinnati Community Orchestra and Sycamore Community Band. A highlight in his last year of life was playing drums weekly in a jazz trio with Hiroshi Yamazaki and Miles Gilbert at the Club at Briarcliff Manor and percussion with the Hudson Valley Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
Funeral services will be held on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 10:30 a.m. with visitation beginning at 10 a.m. at Weil Kahn Funeral Home, 8350 Cornell Rd., Cincinnati, Ohio 45249. Services will be livestreamed at https://webcast.funeralvue.com/events/viewer/106031. Burial will follow at United Jewish Cemetery Montgomery, 7885 Ivygate Lane Montgomery, Ohio 45242. Donations in Dr. Kay’s memory may be made to either Doctors Without Borders or the American Diabetic Association.
