Psychiatrist Stuart Langdon Keill dead at 84

Stuart Langdon Keill, a psychiatrist for more than 50 years, was "a brilliant man" and longtime leader in his field who even tried to go to medical school when he was too young.

When his age kept him from becoming a doctor for a few years, he decided to get a master's degree while he waited.

Keill, 84, of Upper Brookville, died Sunday at North Shore Glen Cove hospital from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease he lived with for 30 years, his daughter said.

His death came just a few days after cancer surgery. "The surgery went great, but two days later he couldn't breathe," Victoria La Russo said. "It was the pulmonary fibrosis that he had lived with for years and never bothered him before."

Keill, a college professor and former president of the American Psychiatric Association, was born upstate in Binghamton in 1927 but spent most of his life living in Upper Brookville.

The 1947 Princeton graduate received a master's degree from Cornell University in 1948 and a medical doctorate in psychiatry from Temple University in 1952.

"My dad was this brilliant man. He graduated high school when he was 15, then he spent three years at Princeton and got right into medical school. But they said he had to wait 'cause he was too young, so he got his master's at Cornell in the meantime," La Russo said.

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Keill became chairman of psychiatry in 1976 at what was then Nassau County Medical Center and also was a professor at Stony Brook University, University at Buffalo, University of Maryland School of Medicine and New York University. He worked at psychiatric hospitals in New York State and had a private practice. "He ran hospitals, worked for the state, opened and closed hospitals and hired and fired staff," La Russo said.

Keill taught forensic psychiatry to board certified psychiatrists at NYU with friend and colleague Dr. Henry Weinstein.

"First of all, he was a wonderful person, engaging, funny and brilliant," Weinstein said. "Secondly, he was a towering figure in this field of administration in psychiatry. Thirdly, at one point we were so close, that one of our fellows wrote on our evaluations that it was the Stu and Henry show."

He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1955 and was an active member of Christ Church in Oyster Bay for 36 years, serving in various roles.

Keill published 52 articles and was one of a few authors of "Textbook on Administrative Psychiatry."

He received various awards in psychiatry, but the most notable to him, his daughter said, was the Distinguished Service Award, Bishop Diocese Long Island in 2011.

Keill also is survived by his wife, Joanne Keill, of Upper Brookville; daughters Elinor Moran of Pearl River in Rockland County, and Patricia Keill of Manhattan; son Brian Keill of Pearl River; brother William Keill of Morristown, N.J.; and nine grandchildren.

Visitation is Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Oyster Bay Funeral Home. Funeral service is Friday at 11 a.m. and Keill will be buried in the Columbarium, a garden in Christ Church, Oyster Bay.