Dr. Morton Herbert Shaevitz

1935 - 2021

SAN DIEGO —

It is with great sadness that the family of Morton Herbert Shaevitz, PH.D., ABPP, announce his passing on September 24 due to advanced colorectal cancer.

Mort was born in New York City in 1935 to a Russian and Polish immigrant couple, Dorothy and Arthur. He spent his early years in that city, but during World War II, his family including his beloved grandmother, “Grandma Molly,” moved to Long Beach, California.

Mort attended elementary and high schools in Long Beach and then UCLA, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree, an M.A., and PH.D. in Clinical Psychology. In college, Mort met and married another UCLA student, Diane Orloff. After completing his PH.D., they moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he became Associate Director of Counseling Services at the University of Michigan. While in Michigan, Mort and Diane had two children, Erica and Jonathon.

In 1969, while Mort was on a consulting visit with Dr. Carl Rogers at the Center for Studies of the Person, he learned of a position that was opening up at the University of

California - San Diego. He got the job as Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, moved the family west, and worked at the university until 1977.

Over the years, Mort also taught Gender Bias, Mediation, and Conflict Management courses at the University of San Diego and worked in different positions at Scripps Clinic Medical Group, including as Director of Behavioral Health, from 1978 to 1993.

During the 2000’s and until recently, Mort was Associate Clinical Professor for the UCSD Department of Psychiatry, worked as a therapist with his own practice, Shaevitz & Associates, and provided executive consultation through his MHS Consulting, all in La Jolla.

Diane and Mort divorced during the early 70’s and a few years later, he married Marjorie Hansen Shaevitz, a marriage and family therapist. During the mid-70’s they had two children, Geoffrey and Marejka.

Mort and Marjorie worked together as therapists, but also wrote books together, including “Making It Together as a Two Career Couple.” On his own, Mort also wrote Putnam’s “Lean & Mean: The No Hassle, Life-extending Weight Loss Program for Men,” “Sexual Static: How Men Are Confusing the Women They Love,” for Little Brown and Company, and in 2015, he and Ken Blanchard wrote “Refire! Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life,” published by Berrett-koehler.

In addition to books, Dr. Shaevitz loved to write articles and do public speaking. He wrote dozens of professional and academic pieces and gave many presentations throughout the country. Toward the end of his life, he wrote articles for Psychology Today and the California Psychologist.

What gave him the most pleasure, however, were his four children: Erica, Jonathon, Geoffrey and Marejka and their respective spouses/ partners: John Huggins (Los Angeles), Karen Blumberg (New York City), Sarah Moses (Los Angeles) and Adam Downey (Columbus, Ohio). He loved spending time with his four adult grandchildren: Sam and Jonah Huggins and Rebecca and Jack Shaevitz— and couldn’t quite believe it when he became a grandfather again. During the 2010s, Mort was thrilled to add 5-year-old Annabel and 4-year-old Maisie Jade to his life.

A Celebration of Life will be given in his honor by his family in a few months.

The family requests that memorial gifts in honor of Mort Shaevitz be sent to The Scripps Health Foundation, where donations will be designated to support the work of his primary internal medicine physician, Dr. Gaston Molina.

Memorials can be made online or mailed to Scripps Health Foundation:

scripps.org/ memorialdonations

Scripps Health Foundation

P.O. Box 2669

La Jolla, CA 92038 Call: 844-442-4483 (GIVE) Please sign the Guest Book online obituaries.sandiegouniontribune.com