Dr. Stephen Landow passed away on Aug. 3, 2015, at his home in Ivoryton, where he lived with his loving wife Patricia. He died peacefully with family close by.
The son of Anna and Samuel Landow, Stephen was born in New York City on May 26, 1926. Immediately on graduating high school in New York, he enlisted in the US Navy where he served during WWII from 1943 to 1946. He was assigned to a submarine chaser in the Atlantic and in the Pacific served on a landing craft, LSM366.
Following his discharge from the Navy, Dr. Landow attended Columbia University in New York. On graduation he worked as a journalist for various newspapers in New York, and then for Stars and Stripes in Berlin, Germany. However, Stephen had always had an interest in the field of medicine and enrolled to study at the Karl-Ruprecht University in Heidelberg, where his courses were all in German. After graduation in 1966, he completed one year of rotating internship in Germany followed by another year at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, finally completing his psychiatric residency at New Rochelle Hospital in New York. He then accepted a position at the University of Texas Medical School as an assistant professor and became chief physician at the San Antonio Alcoholic Treatment Program.
On his return to the East Coast, Dr. Landow accepted a position as the part-time director of the psychiatric unit at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown. He eventually opened a private practice at his home in Essex. After retirement he enjoyed occasional locum tenens work.
Sailing and chess occupied Stephen’s retirement; he very much enjoyed chess games every week with his friends at the Estuary Senior Center in Old Saybrook, and if he didn’t have a chess piece in his hand, he was usually holding a book. An avid and eclectic reader, Dr. Landow was known for his keen intellect and wit: friends and family were beneficiaries when he recounted his fascinating life experiences. Through his friendship with Susan “Suzie” Thrall, he served as one of the executors of her charitable foundation, which awards yearly scholarships to high school students to help them attain their dream of a college education. Under his guidance the foundation also made generous donations to libraries, clinics, and other groups, most recently donating funds toward the waiting room for the Emergency Department at the new Middlesex Hospital in Westbrook.
Dr. Landow was a caring and devoted husband, father, grandfather, and uncle. He will be greatly missed. He leaves behind his devoted wife Pat; his three children by his former wife Gay Tatro, Michael, Lisa, and Mark; his daughter-in-law Karla; his adored grandson Tazer; his nephew Dennis Pistone and wife Nancy and their two daughters Sarah and Kate; Kate’s husband Jason and son Lucas; his niece’s husband Cliff Danziger and his children Elliot, Abby, and her husband Matt Kelly; and Byron and his partner Christin and their children Samuel, Tilly, and Ollie. Dr. Landow was predeceased by his sister Marion Pistone, his brother Samuel Landow, and his niece Joyce Danziger.
A moving tribute—A Celebration of the Life of Stephen Landow—was presented in October by Michael, Lisa, and Mark at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Essex.
