Martin W. Peck, M.D. 1880-1940

The untimely death of Dr. Peck on May 7, 1940, ended a career of achievement and progress in psychiatry and psychoanalysis and was a great loss to the medical profession and a deep personal loss to his colleagues.

Dr. Peck was born in Montpelier, Vermont, December 14, 1880. After graduating from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta, he studied at the Harvard Medical School and received the degree of M.D. in 1915. From May, 1917, to May, 1918, he was first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, U.S.A. During the years 1918-1920, he was assistant physician at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Towson, Maryland, and in 1920-1921, was resident physician at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Following this hospital training, he specialized in psychiatry. He was chief of the out-patient department of the Boston Psychopathic Hospital from 1923 to 1927, and was also instructor in psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School during the years 1923-1937. For several years he was assistant psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. From 1933 to 1937 he was president of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society.

His interest and training in psychoanalysis began during his residency at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and subsequently he continued his training. At the founding of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute in 1935, he became one of its trustees and a member of the educational committee. He was the author of a volume entitled “The Meaning of Psychoanalysis” and of a number of papers dealing with clinical and dynamic problems.

Dr. Peck was a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Boston Psychoanalytic Society, New England Society of Psychiatry, Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, American Psychopathological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and was also a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. At the time of his death, he was lecturer on psychoanalysis at the Boston Psy