The Institute for Community Inclusion Mourns the Loss of One of ICI’s Distinguished Founders, Dr. Ludwik Stefan Szymanski

With great sorrow, we share with you the news that Psychiatrist Emeritus Dr. Ludwik Stefan Szymanski passed away peacefully in his home at the age of 92 on November 22, 2024.

Dr. Szymanski was a cofounder of the Developmental Evaluation Clinic (DEC) with Dr. Allen C. Crocker, which we know today as the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at UMass Boston and Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). He advocated for families and children, exploring and improving health and social outcomes for children with developmental disabilities at BCH.

In these earliest days at the DEC, Dr. Szymanski and his team took an interdisciplinary, family-centered, hands-on approach to child developmental evaluation, building the foundation of values the ICI and BCH advocate today. This approach was revolutionary for its time during the 1960s and 1970s. Going forward, Ludwik was always at the vanguard in the field of mental health for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and he became an international leader in developmental neuropsychiatry.

"I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Szymanski during my career at BCH and ICI. While we still have much work to do to address the mental health needs of people with intellectual disabilities, Ludwik’s work was groundbreaking. He was an esteemed clinician, and a teacher and a student. He cared not just about his patients, but about those who supported them, whether they be family or professionals. He was kind and caring. We will miss him." – Cindy Thomas, ICI Director

Over the years, Dr. Szymanski served as a consultant to the US Department of Justice and to state governments on mental health care of persons living in institutions. He also worked as a psychiatrist for the mental health clinic of the Boston Juvenile Court and advocated to end atrocities in state schools that segregated people with disabilities. In 1990, Dr. Szymanski established and directed the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the BCH.

Dr. Szymanski also devoted his time to teaching trainees at the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) program at BCH. He mentored students engaged in interdisciplinary projects related to mental health and developmental disabilities. He kept an open mind and wanted to learn from his LEND students.

Dr. Szymanski’s contributions to Boston LEND are innumerable. His long-time colleague and friend shared fond memories of Ludwik:

"Ludwik's ability to listen, to engage, to help others, and to help others help themselves was absolutely inspiring. He was an amazing colleague, teacher, and friend. He was always ready to work with and mentor our interdisciplinary students, always willing to give a lecture on short notice, or to join the students in new learning experiences. He was dearly admired by all." – Dr. David Helm, Former LEND Director

Ludwik championed the philosophies of individual self-determination and person-centered care throughout his career. In a paper he published in 2000, Happiness as a Treatment Goal, Ludwik wrote,

"The ultimate goal of treatment, whether by the means of psychotherapy, psychoactive drugs, habilitation, or any form of active treatment, should be bringing individuals to the highest realistically possible level of quality of life, including their happiness and satisfaction with their own life."

We are confident that Ludwik’s legacy will continue at the Boston LEND program and the ICI for many years to come.