Joyce Lowinson

Dr. Joyce Lowinson passed away peacefully at her home on October 12 at the age of 102. Dr. Lowinson, a psychiatrist, was a leader in treating substance abuse and chemical dependency, from clinics in the Bronx to a presidential commission. During the 1960s she was Unit director at Beth Israel’s methadone maintenance pilot project and Chief of Drug Abuse Services at Bronx State Hospital. She was Executive Director of the Division of Substance Abuse at Albert Einstein’s College of Medicine; Professor of Psychiatry at Einstein: and Vice Chair of Einstein’s Department of Psychiatry. In 1977 President Carter appointed Dr. Lowinson to the President’s Strategy Council on Drug Abuse Prevention and Drug Traffic Control. Dr. Lowinson was lead editor of Lowinson and Ruiz’s Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook. She received numerous awards including the Norman Zinberg Award from Harvard Medical School. She was loving and wise, and her zest for life included playing tennis into her 90s. Dr. Lowinson was predeceased by her husband Samuel Kootz, described by The New York Times as “an activist and a prophet” for the “new American art” of abstract expressionism. She will be missed by her many dear friends.

A Memorial gathering and reception be held November 29th at 1:30pm at "The Riverside" 76th St. and Amsterdam Ave.