Dr. John C. Pomeroy was an associate professor at Stony...

Dr. John C. Pomeroy was an associate professor at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Credit: Stony Brook University

By day, Port Jefferson’s Dr. John C. Pomeroy was one of the nation’s most eminent psychiatrists. Among his credentials: founding member of Stony Brook University School of Medicine’s child and adolescent psychiatry department; director of its outpatient clinic in child and adolescent psychiatry; and founder of the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

But by night, he cheered on England’s Chelsea Football Club on TV, played tennis and, with his family, attended theater, particularly by such Irish playwrights as Martin McDonagh and Brian Friel.

"He just was the most mild-mannered, lovely, charming guy," said longtime friend Cris O’Keefe, of Setauket. "Very soft-spoken like — "

" — Clark Kent," chimed in her husband, Brian O'Keefe, Pomeroy’s frequent tennis and concert companion.

Continued Cris O’Keefe, "He was very, very brilliant, but also very, very humble."

"He was very patient, very quiet. I don't think he ever yelled," said his daughter, Zara Miller, of Rocky Point. "We would go out places and if anyone recognized my dad, they'd tell me how amazing he was. Or they knew someone who had autism and he’d helped them or their family."

Yet it never went to his head, said friends and family alike.

Partly that came from his humble British upbringing as the son of a mother who was a teacher and a father who painted buses — both of whom aspired for more for their three children.

"His mother especially was very adamant," Miller said, "about him and his sisters having a good education."

Pomeroy died Jan. 12 at a hospice near his home, following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.

He was born John Charles Pomeroy on March 24, 1950, in London, the youngest of three children of Jack and Doris Pomeroy. After graduating in 1973 from medical school in London, he began his career as a doctor in that city — where one of his emergency room patients was the rock star Marc Bolan — and in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, bordering Spain, O'Keefe said.

Pomeroy and Julia Carole Green married in the United Kingdom on June 21, 1974. After he became interested in the emerging field of child psychiatry, Pomeroy and his wife immigrated to the United States, where he studied and worked at hospitals affiliated with the University of Iowa and Cornell University in Ithaca. In the early 1980s the Pomeroys moved first to White Plains and then to East Setauket, where they raised a family. In 2017, their children grown, Pomeroy and his wife moved to Port Jefferson.

Spending most of his career as an associate professor at Stony Brook University, Pomeroy was renowned for his groundbreaking studies on autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Balancing research with hands-on medicine, he treated countless autistic children and adolescents.

In 1990, he received funding from what is now the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities for a major psychiatric program that included fellowship training for child and adolescent psychiatrists. According to Stony Brook, Pomeroy penned or coauthored more than 70 articles, abstracts and book chapters on autism.

His many accolades included the 1984 J. Franklin Robinson Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; the Suffolk County Mental Health Association’s 2009 Health Care Professional of the Year Award; and the Suffolk County Martin Luther King Jr. Commission Public Service Award.

He was a member of the American Psychiatric Association and, on Long Island, of The Old Field Club in East Setauket.

In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his son, Jonathan, of Port Jefferson; sister, Jackie Bawden, of England; and two grandchildren.

A memorial will be held Saturday at Bryant Funeral Home in East Setauket. The family requests donations be made to the Smithtown-based Developmental Disabilities Institute or to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

By day, Port Jefferson’s Dr. John C. Pomeroy was one of the nation’s most eminent psychiatrists. Among his credentials: founding member of Stony Brook University School of Medicine’s child and adolescent psychiatry department; director of its outpatient clinic in child and adolescent psychiatry; and founder of the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

But by night, he cheered on England’s Chelsea Football Club on TV, played tennis and, with his family, attended theater, particularly by such Irish playwrights as Martin McDonagh and Brian Friel.

"He just was the most mild-mannered, lovely, charming guy," said longtime friend Cris O’Keefe, of Setauket. "Very soft-spoken like — "

" — Clark Kent," chimed in her husband, Brian O'Keefe, Pomeroy’s frequent tennis and concert companion.

Continued Cris O’Keefe, "He was very, very brilliant, but also very, very humble."

"He was very patient, very quiet. I don't think he ever yelled," said his daughter, Zara Miller, of Rocky Point. "We would go out places and if anyone recognized my dad, they'd tell me how amazing he was. Or they knew someone who had autism and he’d helped them or their family."

Yet it never went to his head, said friends and family alike.

Partly that came from his humble British upbringing as the son of a mother who was a teacher and a father who painted buses — both of whom aspired for more for their three children.

"His mother especially was very adamant," Miller said, "about him and his sisters having a good education."

Pomeroy died Jan. 12 at a hospice near his home, following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.

Roots in London

He was born John Charles Pomeroy on March 24, 1950, in London, the youngest of three children of Jack and Doris Pomeroy. After graduating in 1973 from medical school in London, he began his career as a doctor in that city — where one of his emergency room patients was the rock star Marc Bolan — and in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, bordering Spain, O'Keefe said.

Pomeroy and Julia Carole Green married in the United Kingdom on June 21, 1974. After he became interested in the emerging field of child psychiatry, Pomeroy and his wife immigrated to the United States, where he studied and worked at hospitals affiliated with the University of Iowa and Cornell University in Ithaca. In the early 1980s the Pomeroys moved first to White Plains and then to East Setauket, where they raised a family. In 2017, their children grown, Pomeroy and his wife moved to Port Jefferson.

Spending most of his career as an associate professor at Stony Brook University, Pomeroy was renowned for his groundbreaking studies on autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Balancing research with hands-on medicine, he treated countless autistic children and adolescents.

In 1990, he received funding from what is now the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities for a major psychiatric program that included fellowship training for child and adolescent psychiatrists. According to Stony Brook, Pomeroy penned or coauthored more than 70 articles, abstracts and book chapters on autism.

His many accolades included the 1984 J. Franklin Robinson Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; the Suffolk County Mental Health Association’s 2009 Health Care Professional of the Year Award; and the Suffolk County Martin Luther King Jr. Commission Public Service Award.

He was a member of the American Psychiatric Association and, on Long Island, of The Old Field Club in East Setauket.

In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his son, Jonathan, of Port Jefferson; sister, Jackie Bawden, of England; and two grandchildren.

A memorial will be held Saturday at Bryant Funeral Home in East Setauket. The family requests donations be made to the Smithtown-based Developmental Disabilities Institute or to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

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