Necrology

Patrick Kaye Quinn '73

Jul. 28, 1951-Oct. 5, 2024

Patrick Kaye Quinn ’73 died on Oct. 5, 2024, in Las Cruces, N.M. Born in Cortland, N.Y., on Sept. 28, 1951, he came to Hamilton from Cortland High School at the urging of his French teacher, a former Continental. On the Hill, he was a member of Chi Psi fraternity and the College Choir and majored in psychology, graduating with departmental honors.

From Hamilton, Pat entered Fordham University to begin graduate studies in clinical psychology, completing his Master of Arts degree in 1975 and his Ph.D. in 1982. The title of his doctoral dissertation was "The Relationship between Death Anxiety and the Subjective Experience of Time in the Elderly.” During the course of his studies, he was a psychology fellow at the Mental Retardation Institute of New York Medical College. His clinical internship took place at the White Plains Veterans Administration hospital.

For Pat, 1977 was an eventful year. He completed his doctorate coursework and was elected to Fordham University’s chapter of the Society of Sigma Xi, the honorary fraternity for those engaged in scientific research. On May 7 of that year, he married Susan Laura Kaye and subsequently began his career as a clinical staff psychologist at the East Arkansas Mental Health Center in Helena, Ark., near Memphis, Tenn. Then, in 1978, he became senior psychologist and clinic administrator at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville, N.J.

In the spring of 1983, Pat and Susan moved to Washington, D.C., when he accepted a position at the Central Intelligence Agency as an operational psychologist, a position he would hold for 10 years. From 1986 to 1991, he, Susan, and their daughter Abigail, who was born in 1984, resided in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, an assignment that required frequent travel throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Returning to Washington in 1993, Pat was promoted to organizational psychologist. In 2007, he retired from the CIA as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service and received the Career Intelligence Medal. Around the same time, Susan retired from her position as head of the social work department at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Pat never did like cold weather. In fact, in his 50th reunion yearbook in 2023, he reflected that “…at Hamilton I was totally preoccupied with moving somewhere warm.” Years before, a fellow Chi Psi and a native of New Mexico had recommended that Pat consider Las Cruces, but only after he and Susan retired did they take action, building a retirement home there.

In 2008, Pat became an organizational consultant for the Transport Security Administration for a year and also opened a private practice. He completed a postdoctoral master’s degree in psychopharmacology for practicing psychologists at New Mexico State University. In 2017, he became adjunct professor and co-director for the psychopharmacology program at that same institution. In 2019, he fully retired and closed his private practice as well.

Reflecting on his time on the Hill in his 50th reunion survey, Pat was grateful for the opportunities Hamilton provided. “By some accident, I took a broad range of classes and ended up getting a high-quality liberal arts education [that] mostly contributed to my overall quality of life.” That Kirkland College was nearby enabled him “to attend a very traditional school while taking many classes at a very progressive one.” He was able to take classes from four psychologists, two each at each College, whose different specialties enabled Pat to become “extraordinarily well prepared for graduate school.” Moreover, “the breadth of my undergraduate psychology studies at Hamilton gave me the ability to have a much more rich, broad, and varied career than the norm.” The networking skills he also acquired “did help me build the kind of network I needed for success within the intelligence community, I think.” Among those in Pat’s intelligence network was Casimir Yost ’68, then director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Patrick Kaye Quinn is survived by his wife and daughter.

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