John Ritchie Blitzer

Bradford – John R. Blitzer, 78, died at home on Thursday, June 3. He was born in New York City, the son of Max and Grace Blitzer. In 1948 he graduated from Harvard Medical School, married Amy Hughes, and began a medical internship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. He trained in adult psychiatry at the Payne Whitney Clinic of New York Hospital, the teaching hospital of Cornell Medical School. He was a captain in the Air Force Medical Corps from 1951-1953, stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. He worked there both as a flight surgeon and as a psychiatrist. In 1953 he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. His private practice there was divided about equally between children, adolescents, and adults. He taught a day a week at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He was appointed to the faculty of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute where he taught a seminar on adolescence. Dr. And Mrs. Blitzer bought their house in Bradford in 1967 and retired there full time in 1987. Survivors include his wife of 56 years; a son, Peter Blitzer of Fort Myers, Florida; a daughter, Judith Blitzer of Glen Cliff, New Hampshire; a daughter, Mary Field of Philadelphia; a son, Charles Blitzer of Durham, New Hampshire; and nine grandchildren. Private services will be held when family members gather in August. Memorial donations may be made to Ausbon Sargeant Land Preservation Trust, New London; or Lake Sunapee Visiting Nurses Association, New London.