Dr. Ivan Pavkovic

Pavkovic, former executive director of the University of Illinois at Chicago Project on Genocide, Psychiatry and Witnessing, is renowned for his efforts to reform mental health services in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia- Herzegovina to protect patients' rights and address the widespread trauma following the Balkan wars. With co-founder Dr. Stevan Weine, he authored many scientific publications concerning the mental health consequences of genocide and war.

"Ivan Pavkovic had an ethicist’s soul and a pragmatist’s mind. He helped countless leaders in Illinois and other countries build systems of health care based both on making a just society as well as a recognition of what is possible," said Dr. Joseph Flaherty, dean of the UIC College of Medicine.

"Dr. Pavkovic was a very brave man, who visited Sarajevo during the war. The war in Sarajevo was particularly ruthless and perilous for all who were in that city. From that time until the end of his life, he selflessly assisted psychiatrists in Sarajevo and all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He made especially significant and effective contributions to the field of modern mental health care reform. Thanks to Dr. Ivan Pavkovic, the organization of mental health care in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the best in the region." wrote Dr. Slobodan Loga, former director of the psychiatry department at the University of Sarajevo and member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Born in Rakitno, Yugoslavia, Pavkovic earned his medical degree in 1953 from the University of Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

Pavkovic loved theater, films, jazz and classical music. During medical school he tried a brief stint as an assistant film director, worked as a film and theater critic for the Zagreb newspaper, and studied art history.

Pavkovic returned to medicine and worked as a resident physician in Ochtrup, Germany from 1958 to 1959.

Before emigrating to the United States he lived in Paris where in the cafes he engaged with Richard Wright and James Baldwin, and other writers, artists, and filmmakers.

After immigrating to the United States in 1960, Pavkovic interned at Columbus Hospital in Chicago (1960-1961) and completed his residency at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute (1961-1964).

He was superintendent of Anna State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Anna, Ill., from 1965 to 1968 and received the Francis J. Gerty Award in 1966 for administrative changes in mental health practice in Illinois.

Pavkovic worked for the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities for more than a decade, serving as regional administrator, associate director and acting director.

Pavkovic was a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at UIC, joining the faculty in 1994.

He was a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a recipient of the organization's Bruno Lima Humanitarian Award in 1997 for "the care and understanding of the victims of disasters."

Pavkovic is survived by his wife Lilly Pavkovic, son Andre Pavkovic, daugher-in-law Nancy Pavkovic, and grandchildren Spencer Matisha Pavkovic and Jackson Ivan Pavkovic.

A memorial visitation will be held Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 9:00 AM until time of Memorial Mass at 10:00 AM at St. Francis Xavier Church, 524 Ninth Street in Wilmette, followed by burial at Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements under the direction of Wm. H. Scott Funeral Home, Wilmette, IL, 847-251-8200.