News Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging

In Memoriam of Dorismae Hacker Friedman

October 28, 1920-May 30, 2021

Mrs. Dorismae Hacker Friedman passed away peacefully in her home, on May 30.

In fall of 2007, WashU’s Center for Aging was renamed the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging in recognition of Harvey and Dorismae Friedman’s support of the center’s efforts to create an environment for fruitful cross-disciplinary research. The Institute and center faculty and staff are grateful for Mr. and Mrs. Friedman’s support in helping establish and sustain the center and our work.

Center for Aging founders - 1998
From left to right: William Peck, Harvey Friedman, Dorismae Friedman, John C. Morris, Leonard Berg and Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton in 1998

According to her obituary, Mrs. Friedman was born in St. Louis on October 28, 1920. For 67 years, she was married to Harvey A. Friedman and had two daughters, Lynn Friedman Hamilton and Leslie Joan Friedman, PhD. She is also the cherished grandmother of three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Friedman was 1941 Homecoming Queen and 1942 graduate of Washington University who relished her time as a docent at the Saint Louis Art Museum and Artis Naples. She was a stalwart volunteer for many causes including the Brownies and Girl Scouts. Her children wrote this about their mother, “She drew people to her with her warmth, grace, and compassion…always innately knowing the right word to say.”

The Institute for Public Health and staff of the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging wish heartfelt condolences to the Friedman family and thank them for sharing their mother with us.