Robin Hunter (psychiatrist)
Canadian psychiatrist (1919–1987)
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Life and career
Hunter was born in Jamaica and came to Canada in 1940. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He was shot down over occupied Europe and spent four years as a prisoner of war after being processed at Dulag Luft. After the war, he enrolled at McGill University and earned a medical degree in 1950.
He was head of the Department of Psychiatry at Queen's University until 1966. In 1967, he was appointed to the same position at the University of Toronto, where the department of psychiatry had a largely biological orientation prior to that. According to his colleague and successor Frederick Lowy, Hunter stressed that psychiatric illness can have its roots in genetics and experience, based on his experiences as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He was named Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the Clarke Institute in 1967, becoming Director and CEO in 1969. In 1973, he was appointed Associate Dean (Clinical) of the Faculty of Medicine. Frederick Lowy succeeded Hunter as chair in 1974.
Hunter died at Toronto Western Hospital from complications of exploratory surgery.