Maurice Deigh, 80; Pioneered Mental Health Programs

Maurice Deigh, 80, a clinical psychologist and senior activist who pioneered mental health programs in public health, died Feb. 5 at his home in Studio City. Cause of death was not announced.

A native of Boston, Deigh graduated from Franklin and Marshall College. He entered USC’s doctoral program in psychology in 1941, but left to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces at the outset of World War II. Commissioned as an officer, he served as an aviator psychologist until 1946. He returned to USC after the war and earned his doctorate.

In the 1960s, he served in the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, first as head of its section on mental health education and then as chief of its preventive services division.

Deigh was among the first public health officials to develop programs in mental health education and to implement them in the community. The programs involved teaching crisis-inter- vention techniques to clergy, police, social workers and others whose jobs brought them into contact with people undergoing life crises.

Deigh also maintained a private practice and held teaching positions at UCLA, Loma Linda Medical School and USC.

Nearing retirement in the mid-1970s, Deigh became a founder of the Southern California chapter of the Gray Panthers, a senior citizens advocacy group. He also was appointed by then-county Supervisor Ed Edelman to a term on the county Commission on Aging.