Irwin N. Perr, M.D.

Dr. Perr was born on March 4, 1928, in Newark, New Jersey. A gifted student, he completed high school at 16 and graduated from Franklin and Marshall College just two years later. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in 1950. During the Korean War, Dr. Perr served as a base psychiatrist for the U.S. Air Force in Japan, where he received commendations for his exemplary military service. He later continued his psychiatric training at the University of California, San Francisco, and went on to co-found the Fairhill Psychiatric Institute in Cleveland, where he served as the first clinical director.

While maintaining a private practice, Dr. Perr also earned a law degree from Cleveland State University in 1961. He later became chief of the Department of Psychiatry at Huron Road Hospital and served as president of the Ohio Psychiatric Association. In 1976, he helped found the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, later serving as its president. A Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Dr. Perr played an important role in the organization’s leadership as Speaker of the Assembly from 1976 to 1977 and Vice President from 1984 to 1986.