People

Superintendents

An organizational chart from March 1956 detailing the organization of clinical services at MSH. Klatte, listed here as Psychiatrist III, would later go on to become superintendent in 1959.

The Medical Superintendent was the head of Mendocino State Hospital, and since he also served as the director of medical services, was always a doctor. Across its eighty-year history, MSH had fourteen superintendents, who are listed below.

  • Dr. E.W. (Edward Warren) King (1831–19141; served 1893–1912)2
  • Dr. Robert Lewis Richards (1869–1934; served 19123–1921)4
  • Dr. Donald Raymond Smith (1874–1935, served 1921–1929)5
    • (interim) Dr. Charles B. Sisson (1856–1942, served 19296)
  • Dr. Romney Moore Ritchey (1876–1952; served 19297–19318)910
  • Dr. John J. Crowley (1875–1951; served 1931–1932)11
  • Dr. Ruggles Allerton Cushman (1856–1954, served 1932–1939)
  • Dr. Walter Rapaport12 (1895–1982; served 1939–1947)13
    • On leave during World War II14
    • (interim) Dr. Rudolph B. Toller (1905–1975, served 194115–1943)16
    • (interim) Dr. Robert Owen LeBaron (1877–1964; served November 17, 1942)
    • (interim) Dr. Melvin John Rowe Sr. (1880–1965; served 1943–1945)17
  • Dr. David Bruce Williams (1900–1988; served 1947–1951)
  • Dr. Gerald Dean Tipton (1896–1981, served 1951–1952)
  • Dr. Reginald Shepard Rood (1905–1983; served 1952–1954)18
  • Dr. Daniel Lieberman (1919–2008; served 1954–1959)
  • Dr. Ernest William Klatte (1926–2022; served 1959–1969)19
  • Dr. Joseph Edward O’Neill (1927–1985, served 1969–1971)20
  • Dr. Waldo S. Cook (1927–?; served 1971–1972)21

Superintendent Gallery

A portrait of MSH’s first superintendent, E.W. King, in his younger days.
A portrait of MSH’s first superintendent, E.W. King, in his younger days.
A portrait of MSH’s first superintendent, E.W. King, in his middle-aged days.
A portrait of MSH’s first superintendent, E.W. King, as superintendent.
A portrait of Dr. E.W. King when older.
A portrait of Dr. E.W. King when older.
This image appeared in the July 3, 1939 issue of the Redwood Journal. Caption: From left to right: front, Dr. R. A. Cushman, superintendent of Mendocino State Hospital, Dr. R. O. LeBaron, Dr. G. S. Wrinkle, Mrs. R. A. Cushman; rear, E. L. Cunningham, business manager; Drs. Donald Frost, M. Porter, R. B. Toller, Otto L. Gericke, Louise Petty, Mrs. B. A. Cober. The photo was taken at the Fourth of July celebration held at the hospital Saturday, July 1 [1939]. (courtesy Ed Bold)
Dora Shaw Heffner, Director of Mental Hygiene, and David Williams, M.D., Supt. and Medical Director of MSH — 1947-1951. Heffner was the first woman to serve as Director of Mental Hygiene in California.
Dr. Waldo Cook in 1963 (photo provided by Mrs. Lois Cook)
Dr. Waldo Cook in Sep. 1970 (photo provided by Mrs. Lois Cook)
Dr. Waldo Cook in Sep. 1970 (photo provided by Mrs. Lois Cook)

Footnotes

  1. Press Democrat (1914, January 13), page 6. King died in San Francisco, where he had been living after resigning as superintendent. ↩︎
  2. King was reported to have resigned due to his “infirmities” (Press Democrat, (1912, May 11)). Less euphemistically speaking, King had suffered a medical episode earlier in the year that had resulted in the amputation of a leg. ↩︎
  3. Press Democrat (1914, September 21), page 8. ↩︎
  4. Dismissed by the Board of Directors in a 4-1 vote effective June 1, 1921 on informal charges of being “temperamentally unfit”, with the Board accusing him of treating patients like soldiers (Sacramento Star, (1921, June 1)). Despite a great political clamor, Richards declined to protest the dismissal. (San Francisco Call, (1921 June 8)). ↩︎
  5. Healdsburg Tribune (1929, July 6), page 1. ↩︎
  6. Healdsburg Tribune (1929, October 1). Sisson was also acting superintendent of Agnews State Hospital. He is incorrectly listed as a permanent superintendent in some MSH documents. ↩︎
  7. Healdsburg Tribune (1929, October 1) ↩︎
  8. Napa Journal (1931, February 15) ↩︎
  9. Ritchie was possibly removed due to what critics argued was a “spoils system” instituted by Dr. J.M. Toner, director of the State Department of Institutions (Visalia Times Delta, (1931, May 29)) ↩︎
  10. Ritchey‘s surname was sometimes misspelled as “Ritchie” or “Richey”, and his middle name was sometimes erroneously recorded as “L”. Ritchey later went on to become the chief medical officer at Alcatraz, and was the psychiatrist who assessed Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz.” ↩︎
  11. Crowley’s FindAGrave entry incorrectly lists him as having served as superintendent until 1935. He resigned in April 1932 to accept a position with the San Francisco city administration as milk bacteriologist (Colusa Herald (1932, April 30)). ↩︎
  12. Frequently misspelled as “Rapapport” or “Rappaport” in some documents. ↩︎
  13. Rapaport later became director of the state Department of Mental Hygiene. ↩︎
  14. Rapaport was called into military service (Press Democrat, (1941, December 27)) as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, working as a psychiatrist. ↩︎
  15. Healdsburg Tribune, (1941, December 29), page 1. ↩︎
  16. Toller later became superintendent of Stockton State Hospital. ↩︎
  17. Sacramento Daily Union, (1945, December 18), page 7. ↩︎
  18. The Tribune, (1954, March 16), page 1. Rood left to become superintendent of the newly opened Atascadero State Hospital. ↩︎
  19. Sacramento Bee, (1959, November 6), page 29. ↩︎
  20. Mendocino Coast Beacon, (1969, June 13), page 7. ↩︎
  21. Cook was the superintendent of the hospital when it closed. ↩︎