In Memory of Eugene P. Gollogly: Dear Friend, Colleague, Unique Human Being, and Inspiration.

In memory of Eugene P. Gollogly (October 4, 1950-January 7, 2021): dear friend, colleague, unique human being, and inspiration.

We were privileged to know and work with “Gene” over some thirty years.  We knew him first through his personal interactions (as publisher and friend) with Jack J. Dreyfus of “The Lion of Wall Street” and Dreyfus Fund fame and Jack’s strong interest in, and commitment to, the “remarkable medicine,” phenytoin (best-known trade name, Dilantin), that had brought him out of a severe endogenous depression at the height of his Wall Street success. Sharing Jack Dreyfus’s concern and deep compassion for the emotional suffering of people, and the burden of mental illness more generally, Gene worked collaboratively with us on programs to improve not only mental health, but rather “whole-person” health (even wound healing), including travel with us to China to review and provide his wise counsel for the Foundation-supported programs there.  As a devoted Trustee of the Dreyfus Charitable Foundation, he continued to provide guidance for all of our work.

Gene had the deepest of understandings of the human condition and suffering and the true meaning of “health” for the whole individual. He had a genuine interest in, and care for, the people around him, as well as more globally. He always tried to help others first and foremost – helping them to realize and achieve their full potential. He was warm, witty and wise – always with a twinkle in his eye. The fact is that Gene led an extraordinary life, with a powerful and probing, but gentle, intellect.  He has left us a powerful, enduring, and inspiring legacy.  We have no words sufficient to express our gratitude for that.

Aside from being a Trustee of the Dreyfus Charitable Foundation, Gene was CEO and President of Booklight Media and Lantern Books at the time of his passing, having been the Director of Steiner Books for nearly two decades prior to that. Consistent with his commitment to “whole health,” he was also Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Mental Health Association.