John M. Rusk, celebrated psychiatrist, former department chair at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and associate professor at Thomas Jefferson, has died at 88
He was an expert in child and adolescent psychiatry, and general psychiatry, and “fiercely dedicated to his patients,” his family said in a tribute.
John M. Rusk, 88, formerly of Ardmore, celebrated psychiatrist, former chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Bryn Mawr Hospital, director of the hospital’s Youth and Family Center, codirector of training for general psychiatry residents at Temple University, and clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University, died Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the Quadrangle retirement community in Haverford of complications after a fall. He had been living with lymphoma.
The son of Dr. Howard Rusk, renowned as the father of rehabilitation medicine, Dr. John Rusk fashioned his own long and prestigious medical career in Ardmore and Philadelphia. Over more than five decades, from his medical school graduation in 1962 to his retirement in 2015, Dr. Rusk treated children and adults with all sorts of mental health concerns, and taught and mentored other doctors and students.
He was head of psychiatry at Bryn Mawr Hospital from 1987 to 1996 and director of its Youth and Family Center from 1977 to 2000. In the 1960s, he worked with adults at the old Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital and children at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. He also practiced privately for decades in Ardmore.
Gentle and nonjudgmental, Dr. Rusk was an expert in child and adolescent psychiatry, and general psychiatry, and “fiercely dedicated to his patients, many of whom he treated throughout their entire lives,” his family said in a tribute. He was also curious and engaging, and he taught and mentored residents at what is now Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine from 1970 to 1980, and psychiatry fellows and students at what is now the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Jefferson.
He joined the U.S. Public Health Service after medical school, traveled to Arizona, and treated patients for two years at the Hopi Reservation. “He always wanted to learn more and experience new things,” said his son Matthew.
Dr. Rusk graduated from what is now the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and completed an internship at the defunct Philadelphia General Hospital. In 2008, he was named Practitioner of the Year by the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society.
He was especially sensitive, he told The Inquirer in 1991, to the “tremendous stress and frustration” that mental health problems present, and said in an article about adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: “These are people who are able to function in life because they are highly intelligent and hardworking. But they may do this with an enormous cost to themselves.”
John Michael Rusk was born Oct. 4, 1935, in St. Louis. His family moved from Brookfield, Mo., to New York, and he graduated from Scarsdale High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Chinese history at Harvard University in 1957.
He met Philadelphia native Anne Straus at Harvard, and they married in 1957, and had daughters Valerie and Natalie, and sons Andrew and Matthew. They lived in West Philadelphia, Ardmore, and Haverford. His wife died in 2023.
Filled with wanderlust, Dr. Rusk and his wife made many memorable trips to Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, and, so interested in history and culture, he pored over detailed guidebooks to places he would never visit. At home, his favorite place was the dining room table. There, surrounded by family, he would talk, listen, and laugh long after the dishes were cleared away.
He was generally calm and soft-spoken, his family said, and they likened him to a courtly country doctor. He was a funny people person who played practical jokes, and he liked to try out new restaurants, especially with Asian cuisine.
He was a practical and pragmatic role model, and he told his family he was deeply gratified by the growth and success he saw in his patients and colleagues. “He loved to talk to people,” said his son Matthew. “He never said anything bad about anybody. He just enjoyed being around people.”
In addition to his children, Dr. Rusk is survived by four grandchildren, a brother, and other relatives.
A private celebration of his life is to be held later.
Donations in his name may be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 4301 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, Va. 22203.