J. Richard Ciccone, MD: a visionary leader.

When other children in post-World War II Brooklyn were dreaming about growing up to be fire fighters, police officers, or baseball players, the future forensic psychiatrist J. Richard Ciccone was planning to be a lawyer. “My father taught me that the law is a noble profession, and it represents an important part of civilization,” Dr. Ciccone reflected in our conversation in his office at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he is a professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Psychiatry and Law Program. “Someone who can represent people and their needs while seeking justice is following a very high calling.” Growing up the son of Italian immigrant parents in a three-story, multigenerational household in Brooklyn, Dr. Ciccone felt drawn to the law as an extension of the order and pride that his father taught him and also of the steadfast care that his mother provided him every day. From an early age, his parents instilled in him the desire to achieve excellence, and their guidance is reflected in Dr. Ciccone’s academic and personal life. He graduated from high school at the age of 16 and attended Columbia University on a chemistry scholarship. While other children of his generation rooted for the “wait ‘til next year” hometown Dodgers and Giants, Dr. Ciccone became a life-long New York Yankees fan. What happened to lead him toward medicine and eventually psychiatry? Uncle Frank. Although he had several uncles who were physicians, it was Uncle Frank, an internist, who took his nephew on house calls. When it came time in college to declare a path of study, Dr. Ciccone had to set law aside, for the time being, and confront the fact that he actually wanted to become a physician. His interest in the law continued, and he decided to pursue two majors: one in chemistry to allow him to keep his scholarship and go to medical school and the other in history. Psychiatry was not a consideration until he “found a home” at the Western Psychiatric Institute during medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. “They had a wonderful library, which was an exciting place to go and just take books off the shelves. It Dr. Peirson is Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH. Dr. Jones is Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY. Address correspondence to: Joshua CW Jones, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 300 Crittenden Boulevard, Rochester, NY 14642. E-mail: [email protected] J. Richard Ciccone, MD