David I. Berland, M.D., 76, died peacefully in his home on February 18, 2024. David was born in St. Louis on August 1, 1947 to the late Dr. Harry and Mildred Berland. He graduated from Ladue High School, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Missouri School of Medicine.
Dr. Berland devoted his career as a child psychiatrist to increasing access to high quality mental health care. He completed his residency training in Adult Psychiatry and a speciality in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the renowned Menninger Foundation in Topeka, KS. He then returned to St. Louis to establish the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry training program at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. He later opened a private practice in Clayton. Dr. Berland held leadership positions in the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry locally and nationally.
David’s friends and family will always remember the way he combined his irreverent sense of humor with kindness and empathy – and most of all his hard work to leave the world a better place. David was a political activist for peace and equality, beginning with his opposition to the Vietnam War. After retirement, he increased his role in St. Louis politics, extensively phone banking for multiple candidates, lobbying in Jefferson City for education and the needs of born children, and learning previously unexamined parts of the city’s turbulent racial history while inviting others to do the same.
David was a member of Temple Emanuel, a mentor and a mensch. He was an unwaveringly passionate, lifelong fan of the Cardinals and the Muny Opera, and he single-handedly raised the quality of wine drinking and jazz appreciation among his cohorts. Daily neighborhood walks, weekly breakfast club, monthly Bordeaux meetings and annual traditions like Christmas eggnog, Eckert’s peaches and lobster in Rhode Island always brought a smile to his face.
The heart of his life was his family. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Elaine; his daughters Kate (Joe Shear) and Rachel (Todd Kiefer); his grandchildren, Eleanor (7), Josephine (5), Isaac (4), and Theodore (1); his sister Marilyn Collier (Richard) and sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, and decades-long and new friends across the country and around the world who made up his tree of life.
Services will be held at Temple Emanuel, 12166 Conway Rd, St. Louis, MO 63141 on Wednesday, February 21st at 10:30 AM with visitation starting at 10 AM. Interment will follow at New Mt. Sinai Cemetery. 8430 Gravois, St. Louis, MO 63123.
The family asks that donations and advocacy be made on behalf of organizations of your choice, particularly those providing services to promote the well-being of children and their families and the disenfranchised, especially in his beloved St. Louis, such as the ACLU of Missouri. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information. BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE
