Psychologist

Charges of sexual misconduct against a Philadelphia psychologist have moved the state to order an emergency suspension of his license and to seek its revocation. The state Board of Psychology said in documents released this week that the continued practice of psychologist Richard J. Jacobson, of Panama Street near 24th, presents "a clear danger to the public health and safety. " The action is based on allegations by three former female patients that Jacobson was sexually involved with them in separate instances between 1979 and 1983.

Wilbur W. Blakely, Ed.D., 66, a psychologist and Presbyterian minister, died Sunday at his home in Warminster. Dr. Blakely was the founding pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Willow Grove. From 1982 to 1992, he was an adjunct associate professor in counseling psychology at Temple University. Born in Castana, Iowa, Dr. Blakely was a graduate of Mapleton High School in Mapleton, Iowa. He received his bachelor's degree in 1949 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.

The Bucks County Board of Commissioners yesterday renewed the contract of a psychologist whose findings last year of sexual abuse and satanic rituals at a Northampton Township day-care center were discredited by the county District Attorney's Office. Bucks County District Attorney Alan M. Rubenstein said yesterday that the psychologist, John M. Gentry, "has no credibility with me personally. His conclusions are frightening because they implicate innocent people for crimes that were never committed.

Irving R. Leshner, 83, a psychologist and big-band musician who composed the Villanova University fight song more than 50 years ago, died Wednesday at St. Agnes Hospital. Mr. Leshner, who lived in Ardmore, was born in West Philadelphia and graduated from Overbrook High School and Temple University. He received his master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Temple. He was a psychologist for 30 years at Jewish Employment Vocational Services in Center City, counseling people entering the work force.

Andrew J. D'Amico wants to turn peer pressure into peer support. D'Amico, a licensed psychologist and a member of Rosemont Counseling Associates, is forming a discussion group for 10 high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 to provide a place for them to talk openly about problems and concerns. "This is not a therapy group," D'Amico said. "My role is to act as a facilitator, not provide therapy. I will simply ensure that they do not hurt each other. " Although no parents will be allowed to attend the discussion sessions, D'Amico said he would be glad to confer with parents or any other professionals such as teachers or guidance counselors, at any time.

Sylvia Ernst's attorney attempted to tread a fine line yesterday. Ernst, of Chester County, has alleged in a federal suit that Chester County Children and Youth Services (CYS) violated her civil rights by removing her granddaughter from her custody five years ago. Yesterday, her attorney, Robert Gidding, tried to show that Ernst had suffered enough to deserve the unspecified monetary damages she is seeking, yet not so much that it affected her ability to raise the child. A psychologist who both evaluated and treated Ernst in seven sessions over the last few years said that Ernst is suffering from clinical depression and would need counseling once or twice a week for "possibly as long as two years.

Alan T. Pollon, 58, a psychologist for Pennsylvania Hospital and a longtime emergency-squad member in Lower Merion and then in Willingboro, died of complications from diabetes Sunday at his Marlton home. Mr. Pollon, a Marlton resident for the last three years, previously lived in Willingboro for more than 25 years. He was a psychologist for Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia for 27 years until becoming ill three years ago. Previously, he worked for the Drenk Guidance Center in Mount Holly.

A 60-year old Philadelphia psychologist charged with taking sexual advantage of three female patients has been ordered to face a formal state hearing to determine whether he should be barred from practice. The state Board of Psychology also reaffirmed its order that the psychologist's license remain in "emergency" suspension, saying his practice presents "a clear danger" to the public. The psychologist, Richard J. Jacobson, of Delancey Place near 24th Street, denied the sexual misconduct charges under oath during a five-hour preliminary hearing yesterday.

On stage at the Academy of Music last week, 12-year-old Juliette Coche wore a pearl-and-rhinestone tiara as she danced the lead role of Marie in the Pennsylvania Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. In the orchestra, her father, Erich Coche, sat with tears in his eyes. He was dying of cancer, but Dr. Coche had no intention of missing his daughter's performance. "It was a very poignant experience," said his wife, Judith Milner Coche. "He took great pride in her accomplishments.

Bernice L. Rosman, 69, of Philadelphia, a psychologist who performed key research in the field of family therapy and served on the staff of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center, died Monday of complications associated with Alzheimer's disease at Stapeley Hall, a retirement home in the city's Germantown section. She had been a longtime resident of the Fitler Square section of the city. From 1972 until she retired in 1994 because of the onset of Alzheimer's, Dr. Rosman served in a number of positions at the center, including director of research and training, chief psychologist, and director of education.

A SURPRISE was waiting for Beth Grimm in the mail on Monday - a check from the Frontier Virtual Charter High School. It had been about a month since Grimm, a school psychologist who's battling breast cancer, had asked the Philadelphia-based cyber school when she would be paid for evaluation reports that she did earlier this year on students with possible learning disabilities. The 55-year-old Lancaster resident had received no answer to the numerous emails she'd sent to John Craig, the school's founder and chief executive.

Jerry Sandusky's behavior exhibited a "pedophile's pattern of building trust," a psychologist told police in 1998 after interviewing one of the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach's alleged victims. But after evaluating the same boy, another expert concluded that Sandusky had done nothing that could not be "defined as normal between a healthy adult and a young adolescent male. " Those conflicting analyses - both included in a police report that year on allegations that Sandusky had touched an 11-year-old inappropriately in a locker-room shower on the Penn State campus - suggest a possible answer to one of the central questions to emerge since the former coach's arrest last year on more than 50 counts of child sex abuse.

Of the 40-student cast and crew, nearly half have a friend or family member in the military. So if ever there was a time and place to reimagine Shakespeare's Macbeth as a tragedy of modern war, it's now, at West Chester University. Macbeth himself (Philadelphia senior Jim Vadala) just spent spring break reconnecting with buddies back with their own war stories to share. Shannon Kearns, a junior Gentlewoman, rushes to the computer to check on a deployed pal from the Poconos whenever she hears of a skirmish in Afghanistan.

CHICAGO - In her sophomore year at Lake Forest College, Sam Sekulich had reached a breaking point. On top of the pressure she felt from classes and student clubs, she was fighting with her parents and not consistently taking medication for her bipolar disorder. Feeling anxious and overwhelmed, she went to the one place where someone is always listening: Facebook. She posted that she hated life and wished maybe she could just "give up on it. " The help poured in. Friends commented on her post, asking if she was OK. A faculty member at her college checked on her through e-mail.

Isaac is a guy in his 30s who teaches art and has a burning love for a student of his - an 8-year-old boy. What we know from Beautiful Child , the play being done by Fever Dream Repertory at the Adrienne, is little more. During the course of a class, Isaac put his hand on the boy's shoulder, then his finger on the boy's lips. Anything else, we have to assume. In the end, we also have to assume that the painfully awful Beautiful Child has something to tell us, but that gives it undocumented credit.

Leonard Rosen, 95, formerly of Center City, a psychologist who became an artist, died of pneumonia Sunday, Jan. 15, at his home in Bandon, Ore. Dr. Rosen earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953. For the next 25 years, he maintained a clinical practice in Camden; was a psychologist at the New Jersey Mental Hygiene Clinic in Camden and for the New Jersey prison system; and was on the staff at Cooper University Hospital. Dr. Rosen was also an instructor at Rutgers University and Glassboro State College, now Rowan University.

WHEN STUDENTS tell Carmen Marerro they don't want to spend more time in school after getting their high-school diplomas, she draws a timeline of their lives. "I shade in the area from 5 to 22," said Marrero, 43, a curly haired, warm mother of two who is one of the Philadelphia School District's few bilingual school psychologists. "I say, 'What you do here determines how you'll live on the other side.' They don't think about it like that. " Marrero, who was raised by Puerto Rican parents in Hunting Park, began working for the district as a community-outreach coordinator in 1996.

Arthur I. Alterman, 72, of Broomall, a research psychologist who studied substance abuse, died of cancer on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Dr. Alterman was a research professor of psychology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior scientist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center-University of Pennsylvania Center for Studies of Addiction. For 27 years, he studied substance-abuse treatments at the center, using funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

TUCSON, Ariz. - The man accused of wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a deadly shooting rampage understands that he has killed people, feels remorse about it, and can be restored to mental competency within eight months, a psychologist testified in federal court Wednesday. Christina Pietz has been treating Jared Lee Loughner, 23, at the Missouri prison facility where a judge sent him four months ago after finding him mentally unfit to stand trial. She told U.S. District Judge Larry Burns that Loughner likely has suffered from schizophrenia for several years but has improved under her treatment.