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Carla Wolff Perez ’54

A picture of Carla Wolff Perez

Carla Wolff Perez ’54, February 17, 2012, in San Francisco, California. Carla grew up in San Francisco, the daughter of prominent physicians. Don Green ’54 knew her first in childhood as a family friend and then as a classmate at Lowell High School. “She went to Reed . . . with fellow Lowellites Harry Jacob ’54, Forrest Bailey ’54, and Charles Hedtke ’54, and was joined later by longtime San Francisco friend Galen Howard Hilgard ’56.” Carla attended Reed for three years, majoring in biology with a focus on premedicine, and completed a degree through a combined program with Western Reserve Medical School. “I still have memories of the fine launching given to me by Reed,” she wrote decades later. After earning an MD in 1960 from Western Reserve, she moved to Italy and served as a consultant in a mental health clinic at the University of Rome. Back in San Francisco, she did a residency in psychiatry at Mt. Zion Hospital. Following that, she managed part-time private and clinical practices in psychiatry and did teaching and consulting until her retirement in 2008. Carla dedicated 14 years of Saturday evenings to work as a radio talk show host. “Psychiatrists were not accessible to the average person,” she said in an interview. “They were the stuffy group. I thought I could do preventive work and not do it in psychobabble jargon.” Said Don, “She gave cautious counsel to persons who called for advice.” Drawing on her wealth of knowledge, she published two books: Getting off the Merry-Go-Round of Compulsive Behavior and Without Clothes We’re All Naked: Reflections on Life in the Real Lane. She also published a children’s book, Your Turn, Doctor, and wrote poetry. Carla and Virgil Perez, a mathematician and artist, were married for 40 years until his death in 2010. They raised four children—three daughters and a son, who were a great joy. Survivors include her children and three grandchildren. A celebration in her honor was held in her favorite San Francisco neighborhood Italian restaurant. Attendees included Don, Galen, and Ayame Ogimi Flint ’54.

Appeared in Reed magazine: September 2012

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