Obituary for Dr. M. Harvey Brenner
Dr. M. Harvey Brenner, 82, unexpectedly passed away in Munich, Germany on September 20, 2022 with his wife Dr. Elke Heckner by his side, due to complications from a hospital stay. Dr. Brenner taught at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth in the School of Public Health from 2005 until 2020 when he was named Distinguished Professor of Public Health. He also is a Professor Emeritus in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught from 1972 to 2004. He came to Johns Hopkins University from Yale, where he both taught as an Associate Professor and received his PhD in Medical Sociology. In Germany, Dr. Brenner held a Visiting Professorship at the Medical University in Hannover and was also a Professor of Epidemiology at the Berlin University of Technology from 1996 to 2005.
Dr. Brenner was a renowned scholar of the impact of the economy on public health whose national and international career spanned several decades. His book Mental Illness and the Economy generated decades of scholarship on the implications of economic change (especially unemployment) as it affects suicide and chronic disease mortality in the United States and industrialized countries. In 1996, he received the Career Award for Scientific Excellence from the American Public Health Association for pioneering the field of health inequalities due to socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity. He served as advisor to the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the US Department of the Treasury, the European Union, the Ford Foundation and the Carey Foundation.
Most recently, Dr. Brenner published on the effects of the COVID-19 related recession on depression, anxiety and suicide and contributed significantly to enhance the health of disadvantaged communities. He worked and published in an impressive range of disciplines, including political philosophy, sociology, economics, psychiatry, statistics, and most recently nonlinear physics. He was a tireless defender of academic freedom who cared deeply about the well-being of others. Dr. Brenner was a brilliant and inspiring intellectual colleague, a good friend and father, and a wonderful companion. His amazing sense of justice and humor will be greatly missed.
He is survived by his wife Dr. Elke Heckner; his daughter Rebekka Windus of Hannover, Germany; his step-daughters Jillian Storms, April Hill, and Cathi Basler, and their mother and former spouse, Dr. Doris Storms; his 6 grandchildren; his sister-in-law Abigail Brenner and her children Robbie and David Brenner; and cousins Jacob Shorer and Jeff Sommer. He was predeceased by his parents Robert and Ethel Brenner, and brother Raymond Brenner.
The graveside funeral was held on Friday, September 30, 2022 at Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery, 318 Berryman’s Lane in Reisterstown, Maryland. For information, please check with Sol Levinson & Bros. funeral home at https://memorials.sollevinson.com/meyer-brenner/5026230. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the M. Harvey Brenner Research Institute to be established in order to advance Dr. Brenner’s work and his legacy. This will include finishing and publishing his work-in-progress. Donations and inquiries should be sent to: MHBrennerResearchInstitute@gmail.com
Dr. Brenner was a renowned scholar of the impact of the economy on public health whose national and international career spanned several decades. His book Mental Illness and the Economy generated decades of scholarship on the implications of economic change (especially unemployment) as it affects suicide and chronic disease mortality in the United States and industrialized countries. In 1996, he received the Career Award for Scientific Excellence from the American Public Health Association for pioneering the field of health inequalities due to socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity. He served as advisor to the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the US Department of the Treasury, the European Union, the Ford Foundation and the Carey Foundation.
Most recently, Dr. Brenner published on the effects of the COVID-19 related recession on depression, anxiety and suicide and contributed significantly to enhance the health of disadvantaged communities. He worked and published in an impressive range of disciplines, including political philosophy, sociology, economics, psychiatry, statistics, and most recently nonlinear physics. He was a tireless defender of academic freedom who cared deeply about the well-being of others. Dr. Brenner was a brilliant and inspiring intellectual colleague, a good friend and father, and a wonderful companion. His amazing sense of justice and humor will be greatly missed.
He is survived by his wife Dr. Elke Heckner; his daughter Rebekka Windus of Hannover, Germany; his step-daughters Jillian Storms, April Hill, and Cathi Basler, and their mother and former spouse, Dr. Doris Storms; his 6 grandchildren; his sister-in-law Abigail Brenner and her children Robbie and David Brenner; and cousins Jacob Shorer and Jeff Sommer. He was predeceased by his parents Robert and Ethel Brenner, and brother Raymond Brenner.
The graveside funeral was held on Friday, September 30, 2022 at Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery, 318 Berryman’s Lane in Reisterstown, Maryland. For information, please check with Sol Levinson & Bros. funeral home at https://memorials.sollevinson.com/meyer-brenner/5026230. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the M. Harvey Brenner Research Institute to be established in order to advance Dr. Brenner’s work and his legacy. This will include finishing and publishing his work-in-progress. Donations and inquiries should be sent to: MHBrennerResearchInstitute@gmail.com