Dr. Peter D. Guggenheim
Dr. Peter D. Guggenheim, a psychiatrist and associate clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University, passed away Monday, March 5, 2012, in Warwick of complications of Parkinsons Disease. He was 84.
He was born May 1, 1927, to Lene and Richard A. Guggenheim, M.D., in Konstanz, Germany.
Following his familys emigration to the U.S. in 1938, he was raised in the Long Island community of Islip, where his father practiced pediatric medicine.
He attended Cornell University, earning a bachelors degree in 1949 and a medical degree in 1955. He then served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant in 1955-56.
As a psychiatrist, Dr. Guggenheim was in private practice. He also was medical director of the New York City Family Court Mental Health Clinic and at Valley Behavioral Medicine in Warwick.
At New York University, he co-founded the Forensic Fellowship Program and was an associated professor of psychiatry.
He lived in New York with his partner, John Abbott, for 46 years, before the two moved permanently to Warwick in 1998. They celebrated their 60th anniversary as a couple in 2011 and were legally married in Toronto in 2007.
Together, they amassed a renowned collection of Renaissance bronzes and clocks. Their bronzes have been on loan at the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Museum, the Royal Academy in London and the Louvre in Paris, and were featured in their own show at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco.
Their clock collection was on show at the Smithsonian Museum and the Bayerischer Museum in Munich, Germany.
Dr. Guggenheim and Dr. Abbott were also equestrian enthusiasts and bred Havoverian horses for dressage. They also were partial to Boxer dogs.
Dr. Guggenheim is survived by his partner John Abbott, his sister-in-law Janet Guggenheim and his cousin Kim Guggenheim.
Donations may be sent to the Warwick NY Humane Society.
Arrangements were under the direction of Flynn Funeral & Cremation Memorial Centers in Chester.