Obituary of Landrum Sylvanius Tucker

Chapel Hill Dr. Landrum Sylvanius Tucker, 73, died April 8, 2013, at Duke Hospice in Durham, NC, just 6 short weeks after finding out he had cancer. Lanny was born on December 7, 1939, in Nashville, TN, the son of Landrum and Helen Tucker of Ripley, TN. He was raised in Ripley, TN, joining the Army at age 17 (6 months active service, 6 years reserves). He graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1961 where he met the love of his life and future wife, Ellie Muenzer in February, 1960 (they would elope 6 months later in August). He then graduated from Stanford Medical School in 1966. While at Stanford, Lisa Stellen Tucker was born in 1962 (predeceasing Lanny on February 22, 1981) and Lara Revin Tucker Cottrell was born in 1965 (predeceasing Lanny on May 14, 2011). Lanny also completed his medical internship at Stanford. During his medical internship, he joined the Air Force (became a Captain) and was stationed at the U.S. Air Force base in Alconbury, England (near Cambridge) until 1970. Sasha Michelle Tucker Gallis was born in 1969 at the U.S Air Force base. Lanny then came to Chapel Hill, NC to do his residency at the University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital in adult and child psychiatry (becoming chief resident). Landrum "Scott" Tucker was born in 1975 in Chapel Hill. Upon completion of his residency, he ran the child in-patient ward at the Hospital for several years before going into private practice with offices located in both Chapel Hill and Raleigh. He continued practicing until very shortly before his death. During the course of his career as an Adult and Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, Lanny earned a vast array of professional achievements and accolades, as well as being very active in his professional field. Some of his many, many accomplishments and work outside his private practice include (in no particular order): Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Training and Supervising Analyst for the UNC-Duke Psychoanalytic Institute (now renamed as the Psychoanalytic Institute of the Carolinas, a training program of the Psychoanalytic Education Center of the Carolinas (PECC)); Chair of the Child and Adolescent Analysis Committee of the PECC; Highly respected teacher of multiple courses in the Psychoanalytic Institute of the Carolinas, as well as a mentor for junior colleagues considering becoming Training and Supervising Analysts; Chairman of the Graduation Committee of the Psychoanalytic Institute of the Carolinas; President of the NC Psychoanalytic Society; served on the Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis, Committee of Certification for analysts seeking certification, and Committee on Institutes responsible for accreditation of Institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association; Board Member of both the Lucy Daniels Foundation and the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood, and participant in a psychoanalytic research program sponsored by the Lucy Daniels Foundation; Member of the American Psychiatric and Psychoanalytic Association, Association for Child Psychoanalysis, International Psychoanalytic Association, American Academy of Child Psychiatry, Southern Psychiatric Association, NC Psychoanalytic Society and Foundation, and the NC Psychiatric Association; various awards including Distinguished Life Fellow APA, Fellow AACAP, and Patients' Choice Award (2008-2011); numerous certifications and dozens of publications and presentations. Lanny was also an accomplished artist. At age 15, he began taking art courses, and through the following years not only built on his art education, but worked drawing silhouettes, as a newspaper cartoonist, and on stage productions. At Stanford from 1961-1967 he took life drawing and painting and won first prize in the drawing portion of the Medical School art exhibit. While in England, his work was accepted for exhibition at the national exhibition in London in 1969. In North Carolina he has exhibited at the State Fair Exhibition. His drawings and paintings are in private collections in California, New York, England, Germany, Canada, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina. Recently, he enjoyed doing watercolors, pen and ink drawings, and pastels of the coastal scenes of North Carolina, the North Carolina mountains, and the islands of the Caribbean. His artwork has been on display for many years at Carolina Artists Studio Gallery located in Morehead City, NC. Lanny dedicated his life to his family and his profession (as well as being an avid Tar Heels fan). He touched deeply and indelibly countless friends, colleagues, students, patients and loved ones with his boundless capacity for love and understanding, incredible empathy and sensitivity, inspirational wisdom, hilarious humor, peerless professionalism, heart-warming gentleness, amazing selflessness, calming serenity, and altruistic nature. In addition to his beloved wife Ellie Tucker, daughter Sasha Gallis, and son Scott Tucker, Lanny is survived by his son-in-laws Jason Cottrell and Alex Gallis, daughter-in-law Allyson Suhendra, granddaughters Laja Quinn Cottrell, age 14, Lisa "Taylor" Gallis, age 13, Savannah Hope Gallis, age 9, and grandsons Logan Macgregor Cottrell, age 9; Vail Kai Tucker, age 2, and Revin Ming Tucker, age 1. Donations in his memory may be made to the Lisa Tucker Memorial Scholarship at Appalachian State University, the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood, or the North Carolina Psychoanalytic Foundation. The wake is going to be held at Walker's Funeral Home, 120 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, telephone (919) 942-3861 from 6-8 pm on April 13th. Due to scheduling limitations at the church, his family will be holding the burial on April 14th at 4 pm at the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery, which is located between Fordham Blvd. (US-15-501 Business) and Legion Road. The church service will be held after the burial at 6 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church, 106 Purefoy Rd, Chapel Hill. Online condolences may be made at www.walkersfuneralservice.com