Well-loved San Francisco psychiatrist Paul Freeman practiced in some of the city’s grittiest neighborhoods where, exposed to diverse religions, nationalities and cultures, he became an authority on cross-cultural psychiatry. He also was fascinated with petroglyphs, etchings and other rock art from around the world and co-founded the Bay Area Rock Art Research Association (BARARA) to advance exploration and preservation.
Freeman, ’49, MD ’54, died January 20 in Emeryville, Calif., after a long illness. He was 84.
Freeman was born into a medical family. His great-grandfather, W.W. Keen, was a celebrated surgeon who treated presidents Grover Cleveland and Franklin Roosevelt. His father, Walter Freeman Jr., was a neurologist and pioneer in the development of biological treatments for severe mental illness. One of six siblings, Paul grew up in Washington, D.C., attended Stanford as an undergrad and—as part of a family tradition—continued on to medical school. “There were three of us brothers so close in age we were like triplets,” says his brother Walter, a professor emeritus of neurology at UC-Berkeley. “After we went our separate ways to go to med school, we all ended up back in the Bay Area.”
Paul served in the Navy during the Korean War, treating Marines at Camp Pendleton who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He then moved with his wife, Edith (Henry, PhD ’62), to San Francisco where he continued his postdoctoral training at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute at UC-San Francisco. There he developed the concept of a psychiatric day clinic and organized an outpatient clinic for patients released on medication from California state mental hospitals. “Paul set up daycare centers across San Francisco and specialized in transcultural psychiatry, which sparked an interest in shamanism, or faith healing,” Walter says. “He was fascinated by these age-old traditions to help people with emotional or mental illness, and his love of Native American customs branched out into a love of rock art.”
While hiking and camping Freeman became an amateur rock art researcher and in 1983 co-founded BARARA with Leigh Marymore. He spent nearly three decades traveling and exploring rock art around the world—much of that time with Jeanine Warnod, his domestic partner of 26 years (he and Edith divorced in 1980). At a memorial Warnod noted, “We traveled a lot, searching for rock art sites, festivals and new friends in so many countries. Paul had the gift to find the unknown, often by chance, but overall, because he liked life.”
In addition to his brother Walter and Janine, Freeman is survived by his son, Joshua, his daughter, Susannah White, four granddaughters and a great-granddaughter.
Julie Muller Mitchell, '79, is a writer in San Francisco.
