Leo R. Grieben

Leo Grieben passed away peacefully at his home in San Diego, California on October 26, 2017 at the age of 85. He was preceded in death by his first wife of 37 years, Blanca Grieben, survived by his beloved second wife of 23 years, Marge Legler, and a brother Enrique. Leo was the loving father of three daughters: Cristina (Paul Sandford) Grieben, Elisabeth (Roger) Tullberg and Maria (William) Pickard. His legacy also includes 8 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. Leo, a medical doctor from Buenos Aires, immigrated to the U.S. in 1960, where he trained as a neurosurgeon. He soon developed an interest in psychiatry and switched to that specialty. During his professional career he worked in MA, MN, WI and CA in many capacities: consultant, psychiatrist, clinical director and medical director. He practiced psychiatry in Green Bay, WI from 1976-2009 and was Chief of Medical Staff at the Bellin Psychiatric Center; a hospital that he helped create and manage from 2002-2004. Leo always strove to be on the scientific leading edge and help society overcome the stigma of mental illness. During his career he helped a myriad of people improve their mental health. In 2009, at the age of 72, Leo moved to San Diego with his wife Marge to be closer to her son Kevin and enjoy the beautiful San Diego weather. There he continued psychiatry as a consultant until retiring at age 80. He then spent the next 2 years writing and publishing his autobiography “The Door Had Never Been Locked”. In his personal life Leo was an avid reader and enjoyed cooking as well as travel abroad to places such as Hawaii, Spain and Argentina. Leo developed a passion for computers, dating back to 1974, which he pursued in his personal and professional life. He learned a great deal about computers, set up several home computer networks (both Windows & Linux) and developed some computer programs to assist himself in performing psychiatric evaluations. (Leo often said that if he hadn’t gone into the medical field he thought he would have also been happy in the computer field.) He will be greatly missed by his loving wife Marge and other family members as well as former colleagues & patients alike. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be sent to the “Brain & Behavior Research Foundation” (https://www.bbrfoundation.org/).