Larry Otterness, MD

Unique as a person and as a physician, he entered the practice of medicine as a generalist; his manner of relating to patients led him into psychiatry.

In the medical community he was a physician who treated many colleagues. He was the founder and the guiding light of the Sutter Community Hospital Physician Well-Being Committee, a pioneering effort in the early 1980s.

In the past three decades many of us sought care and counsel in his office. It is well acknowledged that the medical degree neither bars nor prevents mental and emotional problems: mood disorders, family and relationship problems, professional stresses, anxiety disorders or alcohol and substance abuse disorders.

Less well appreciated is that physicians as a group have a special reluctance to seek help in these areas and, once having done so, do not easily follow professional advice. Larry Otterness' personal and professional demeanor eased and minimized the threat and fear of treatment.

Our interests intersected and he was a mentor to me, always available to share his thoughts and insights.

His special sense of humor made it easy to relate to him whether as a patient or as a practitioner.

Those who knew him described him as unique, different, idiosyncratic, unusual, inimitable. One gets the idea that it is hard to characterize this man.

Professionally, in addition to his practice, he taught psychiatric residents and served as an officer of the staff, including Chief of Staff, in the Department of Psychiatry at Sutter Community Hospitals.

His premedical studies earned him a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in entomology. He was an organic gardener, an avid composter, an ardent fisherman and an enthusiastic and accomplished observer and expert in the avian species.

As you might expect, a person only partially described above might not find time, interest or expertise in practical matters of living. Yes, physician to physicians, schooled entomologist, organic gardener, driven composter, bird watcher and fisherman with a very special sense of humor, the Larry we knew would not have been possible without a complementary and supportive base; this anchoring and strength he received from his loving family.

We shall miss this wonderful colleague in our community.

-By Jerome A. Lackner, MD