Sheldon Gardner

Sheldon Frank Gardner, 71, of Mystic, Conn., died Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005.

He was born April 20, 1934, in Massachusetts, and since 1982 he was a resident of Southeastern Connecticut.

He graduated from Everett High School in Boston in 1952, received an A.B. from Harvard in 1956, and completed a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Southern California in 1963.

With his wife of 34 years, Gwendolyn Stevens, he wrote several books and pamphlets and more than 50 articles in the field of psychology.

Among the highlights of a long and distinguished career, Gardner was the first chair of the Psychology Department at the University of North Carolina in Asheville; the founder and executive director of the Hyperkinesis Clinic in Pasadena, Calif., and the founder and executive director of the Psychological Assessment Laboratory in Santa Ana, Calif.

He also organized and directed the Psychological Services Department at the Long Beach Neuro-Psychiatric Institute. He is listed in Contemporary Authors, Something About the Author, Who's Who in American Education, Men of Achievement, and the American Psychological Association Directory.

Locally, he was chief psychologist at the Child Guidance Clinic of Southeastern Connecticut before opening a private practice in Mystic in 1991.

He was a longtime member of Rotary International, including service as secretary of the Mystic chapter; he served on the board of directors of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, including one term as second vice president; he served one term as president of the Groton-Mystic chapter of AARP; and he was a member of the Vestry of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Mystic, where he also sang in the choir.

Gardner wrote and performed the play "An Evening with Sigmund Freud" and performed in other theatrical and musical events, once being nominated for an O'Neill award for community theater acting.

He wrote a column for a Cape Girardeau, Mo., newspaper and a monthly column for Professional Selling. More recently he wrote several novels. He traveled widely and was, in his words, a "fanatical" tennis player. He had a brilliant mind and inexhaustible sense of humor, and he was extraordinarily youthful every day of his life.

He was predeceased by his father, Philip, and a younger sister, Doreen (Edward Krystal).

Besides his wife, he is survived by his mother, Goldie (Stepanski) Gardner; his younger brother, Lewis (Sandra) Gardner; his children, Pamela, Beth, David, Loren and Stephen; and several nieces, nephews and grandchildren.

His family will greet relatives and friends at The Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl St., historic downtown Mystic, today from 6 to 8 p.m.

A funeral eucharist will be celebrated at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Mystic Wednesday at 1 p.m. Burial will follow in Elm Grove Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Scholarship Fund of the Mystic Rotary Club either by contacting Mystic Rotary or by accessing the Rotary International Web page.

For obituary information, directions, or to send an online condolence/remembrance to his family, please visit www. dinotofuneral.com.