Arthur J. Ourieff’s first semester at college started out like any other. He studied hard, occasionally goofed off with his friends and even managed to find time to go on a few dates.
Then, just a few months into his schooling, the bombing of Pearl Harbor suddenly transformed his life. World War II forced the young man to cut short his undergraduate education and leave his beloved Amherst two years early. He never walked in a graduation ceremony, and he never received his diploma.
He did later graduate from Harvard Medical School, even without an undergraduate diploma.
That changed during the college’s 192nd Commencement on May 26, when the 89-year-old Brentwood resident was awarded his bachelor of arts degree along with the 468 members
of the Class of 2013.
Dr. Ourieff became a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst for adults and children. He also worked as an associate professor at UCLA Medical School and served variously, and over many years, as President, Dean and Director of Education at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, as well as on the board of the American Psychoanalytic Society.
