Dr. Robert Drury; Mental Health Official

Dr. Robert Burton Drury, 82, who implemented community mental health care in Orange County. A native of Tacoma, Wash., Drury grew up in Whittier and studied at Whittier College and USC School of Medicine. He practiced in Whittier for 20 years, serving as chief of staff at Murphy Memorial Hospital. Moving into mental health, he was a psychiatric resident, assistant superintendent and chief of professional education at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. After the California Mental Health Act was passed in 1969, Orange County hired Drury to revamp its mental health care, moving from institutions to community-based clinics. He also worked to combine services of state hospitals with those in local clinics. He served as director of Adult Services of the county’s Department of Mental Health and was chief medical officer for the county Sheriff’s Department until his retirement in 1979. On Jan. 29 in Laguna Hills.