David Lichten; Casa Pacifica Clinical Director

David Lichten, an Oxnard resident and clinical psychologist, died Wednesday after a brief illness. He was 45.

Lichten was born Jan. 31, 1953, in Dallas. He lived with his parents in Texas for 18 years, where he attended grade school and high school.

Lichten obtained a bachelor’s degree from Yale University before attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology in 1988.

Lichten then moved to Los Angeles and studied on a fellowship at USC’s School of Medicine, said his mother, Susan Lichten of Dallas.

“I think he was always interested in people and their behavior. He always had a feeling of wanting to help people who were in need because of their behavior difficulties or some other deprivation. He had a real ambition to cure, to make people enjoy their lives,” she said.

Between 1989 and 1990, Lichten worked as a psychologist for a Los Angeles County conditional release program in the court system, his mother said.

In 1990, Lichten moved to Oxnard and worked as the senior staff psychologist for the Corrections Services Agency, where he performed evaluations of adult and juvenile defendants in the Superior Court system.

From 1992 to 1997, Lichten was senior psychologist for the juvenile justice team within the county’s Mental Health Department, his mother said. Last October, he became clinical director of a 28-bed residential treatment program at Casa Pacifica, a shelter for abused and neglected children in Camarillo. Lichten was engaged to marry Sharon Westcott of Oxnard on Saturday, his mother said, adding that the couple had dated for six years.

During his career, Lichten was a member of the Ventura County Medical Center’s executive committee for the Department of Psychology, the American Psychology Law Society and the California Psychology Assn.

Lichten enjoyed mountain climbing, bicycling and swimming. He was also a movie buff, his mother said.

Lichten was preceded in death by his father, Robert Lichten, who died in 1971.

In addition to his mother and fiancee, Lichten is survived by two brothers, Thomas of Oak Park, Ill., and John of Boston; two uncles, Richard of Margate, N.J., and William of New Haven, Conn.; an aunt, Ann Mims of Glen Mills, Pa.; two nieces and two nephews.

A service is being planned at Temple Beth Torah in Ventura. Arrangements were pending.

Memorial contributions can be made to Casa Pacifica or a charity of the donor’s choice.