Though he retired from his position at the University five years ago, Psychiatrist Albert Silverman and his contributions remained, and will continue to remain, an important facet of the University.

Silverman, a former chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University Medical School and a leader in neuroscience, died in California of cancer Friday.

Silverman, 77, contributed significantly to the fields of space neuroscience and psychology. He continued his work in the fields after retirement at the Pacific Behavioral Research Foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Psychology Prof. Stanley Berent, Silverman's friend for over 30 years, said Silverman was his mentor. Berent described him as a very forward-thinking person.

"He had a good work ethic and he instilled that in others," Berent said. "He would always reach out to students. He included them in faculty receptions. He saw value in interacting with students on a social and professional level. He's the kind of professor you would want to have."

"His loss is personal. It's a loss to psychiatry and psychology, and to the field in general," he added.

John Greden, chairman and executive director of the University Depression Center, paid tribute to Silverman in a written statement in which he called Silverman "a force to be reckoned with."

Recounting Silverman's many contributions to society, Greden said, "(Silverman was) an international leader in the field of psychosomatic medicine and an important figure in the development of psychiatry at Michigan and beyond into a field that embraces all aspects of the human brain and psyche."

Silverman earned his bachelor's of science and medical degrees at McGill University in Montreal. In 1955, he entered the U.S. Air Force and stayed there for two years and a half years while he completed his board examinations in neurology and psychiatry.

Among other accomplishments in the Air Force, Silverman led developments in space neuroscience and psychology and helped to create technology that allowed for pilot brain waves to be used as an oxygen deprivation warning system during the mid-1950s.

Silverman recounted his experiences with the Air Force in a 1991 interview.

"This was right at the beginning of space exploration. Just prior to the Russians putting up Sputnik, we were doing G-tolerance studies with the human centrifuge," Silverman said. "We weren't allowed to call them moon trajectories or anything like that, because the senators were very negative about 'all of this space nonsense.'"

But space research became urgent immediately following Sputnik's launch.

"In under 24 hours of Sputnik's going up, we got these hurry-up telegrams from headquarters saying, 'What are we doing in space (research)?'" he said. "We dusted off all the old technical reports we had been doing anyway, but under non-space names such as 'acceleration in unusual environments.' That kind of vague name now became 'G-forces necessary for a moon trip.'"

Silverman left the service in 1957. In the early '60s, he co-founded Rutgers Medical School and chaired their first psychiatry department.

Less than a decade later, Silverman joined the University of Michigan community. Among his contributions to the University, he revamped the medical school curriculum by adding more psychiatric training and improving the residency program.