Acker, Sara
ACKER, Sara Carolyn
Sara Carolyn Acker, "Carolyn", who achieved remarkable acclaim and success in two different careers – first as an award-winning newspaper journalist, then later in medicine as an esteemed psychiatrist – died on August 23, in Atlanta, GA, after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She was 72.
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, she graduated with honors from Clayton High School in St. Louis in 1968, and then went on to make history in the early '70s as a member of the first class of women to graduate from Princeton University. She received a Bachelor's Degree in History at Princeton, but Carolyn's real goal was to become a journalist.
Her first job was as a copy girl at the New York Post. She went on from there to be a star reporter for more than 20 years – first at the Trenton (NJ) Times, then later in Philadelphia with the Daily News and Inquirer. While at the Inquirer, Carolyn was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on mental health issues.
She was in her 40s when she made the momentous decision to leave journalism in order to attend medical school and become a psychiatrist. She had decided she wanted to deal with mental health issues first-hand, rather than just write about them.
After graduating from medical school at Temple University in 1999, Carolyn moved to Boston to do her residency at Harvard. She began her psychiatry practice after that in Boston, before moving to Atlanta, where she was first on the faculty at Emory University, and later opened up her own private psychiatry office.
Everyone who knew her raved about not just her brilliance as a doctor, but also her dedication and her compassion for all the people she treated. "She loved her patients like they were children," her friends say. "And they loved her back just as much."
In addition to her patients, Carolyn loved her animals (first there were dogs, then cats), and she loved her wide circle of friends, stretching all the way back from St. Louis, to Princeton, to New York City, to Philadelphia, to Boston, and Atlanta. She was a wonderful pianist and lover of all types of music.
Although it was heartbreaking for Carolyn when she had to close her medical practice after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it never affected her work with patients. And she made sure all of her patients were taken care of before she closed the office and moved into assisted living. Everyone who knew her said she carried out all of these agonizing decisions with incredible courage and grace.
Carolyn was predeceased by both her parents, Dr. Harry L. Acker and Sara E. Acker (nee Edmonds); and her older brother, Harry (Melva). In addition to many friends, she leaves behind her brother, Larry Acker (Kimberly); niece, Katie Bates (Terry); and nephews, John Acker (Emily) and Scott Acker (Theresa). She also leaves behind great-nephew, Cole Acker.
Special thanks to Kara Johnson and Kendall Crye for their loving support of Carolyn during her final years with Alzheimer's.
Carolyn will be interred at St. Bartholomew's Church in Atlanta.
