Dr Joseph Clayton Schoolar, of Houston, passed away on May 4, 2013, at the age of 85. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Betty Schoolar, by his brother Larry Schoolar, and many beloved family members, including his five children Jonathan, Cynthia, Geoffrey, Catherine, and Adrian. Dr Schoolar was Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine.

As a young man he joined the US Army and attended the Army Japanese Language School at the University of Minnesota. He served in General Douglas MacArthur’s Headquarters in Tokyo. He served at the US Army Reserve, Chemical Corps, from 1947 to 1962.

Joseph Schoolar received his AB from the University of Tennessee in 1950 and his MS in Cellular Physiology from the University of Tennessee in 1952. He subsequently joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researching the effects of ionizing radiation on living systems.

In 1953, Schoolar moved to Chicago as a graduate student under Dr Lloyd Roth. His dissertation focus was on the blood–brain barrier and, with Dr Charles Barlow, he developed an auto-radiographic technique for use on a variety of studies of the brain, mainly blood distribution and cerebral blood flow. He received a PhD in Pharmacology in 1957 followed by an MD in 1960 from the University of Chicago.

In 1960, Dr Schoolar moved to Houston to complete his residency training in psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine-affiliated hospitals. He became a member of the faculty in the Departments of Psychiatry and later also in the Department of Pharmacology. He maintained a clinical practice of psychiatry in Houston for nearly 50 years.

Dr Schoolar’s work included research, education, and clinical practice. He became Chief of the Drug Abuse Research Section at TRIMS (Texas Research Institute Mental Science) in 1966. He was later appointed Assistant Director and the Director of TRIMS in 1968 and 1972. In 1973 he was appointed Chief of the Division of Psychopharmacology in the Pharmacology Department at Baylor. He was also active politically at the national, state, and local levels. At Baylor, he directed staff and graduate student research.

He played an important leadership role in determining the needs of the State of Texas for training programs and treatment facilities for substance abuse. He was an early and strong advocate of the use of methadone in the treatment of opiate addiction, and established the first methadone maintenance clinic in Texas.

Dr Schoolar was concerned with the lack of inpatient and other specialized facilities for the care of the mentally ill in Houston, the largest city in Texas, and he made important changes. At TRIMS, he broadened the focus from research and training to patient care. Since TRIMS closed in 1985, Dr Schoolar focused his work largely on clinical practice and on psychiatric and psychopharmacologic education.

Dr Schoolar was involved in many organizations in the Houston area, including the Houston Philosophical Society, the Institute of Religion in the Texas Medical Center, and the Great Books group he and his wife attended for several decades. His numerous and important publications are too lengthy to mention here.

Dr Schoolar received the Eugene Khan Award for Excellence in Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. An Annual Schoolar Lectureship in Psychopharmacology was established in the Texas Medical Center in his honor several years before his death.

For relaxation Dr Schoolar would escape to his farm in Weimar, TX. Having been born and raised on a farm, he enjoyed the friendship of the local farmers—who were eager to advise the unpretentious city boy.

He will be greatly missed by his family, colleagues, and the many people he touched and helped in his long and distinguished career.