Dr. Anthony Gerard Hempel, of Galveston passed away, Monday, August 14, 2006 in Galveston. The family will receive visitors at Carnes Brothers Funeral Home from 4:00 pm until 7:00 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2006 where a prayer vigil will be held at 5:00 pm, Father Niall Nolan officiating. Cremation will follow under the direction of Carnes Brothers Funeral Home.

Dr. Hempel was BOI attending Sacred Heart and graduating from O’Connell High in 1974. He graduated from SWISU in 1981 with a bachelors of science in psychology. His masters in 1983 from the University of Houston Clear Lake was in psychology. He graduated from Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth in 1991 and was a resident in psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch from 1991 to 1995. suma cum laud.

Dr. Hempel, a board certified forensic psychiatrist, was well recognized in his specialty. He received numerous awards including, the Exemplary Psychiatrist of the Year from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in San Francisco in 1993, the Rappeport Fellowship from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law in 1994 in Maui, Hawaii and the Laughlin Foundation Award from the American College of Psychiatrists in Berkley, California in 1995.

In 2001 he was featured by B.B.C. and The Discovery Channel on a program, “The Criminal Mind”. In 2000 Dr Hempel was awarded the Mary Holdworth Butt Award from the National Alliance for Mentally Ill for his work in identifying the unregulated transportation practices for the mentally ill from county jails and courts to state mental health facilities. This work resulted in Senate Bill 538 being passed to protect the rights of the mentally ill in these situations. He authored and co-authored 23 forensic psychiatry journal articles.  Dr. Hempel was featured in a 3 day series on mass murder in the New York Times and authored the first complete study on adult mass murder, both in 1999.

Tony Hempel served most recently as Chief Forensic Psychiatrist at Vernon State Hospital. In the past he was also an Assistant Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York and a Forensic Psychiatrist at Rochester Psychiatric Center, St. Mary’s Hospital, Rochester Court Clinic and Monroe County Jail all in Rochester, New York. He worked pro bono with the Association for the Defense of Wrongly Convicted and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter to gain clemency for Texas death row inmate Stan Faulder in 1999.

Those who knew and loved him recognize that his achievements of pitching for the Galveston O’Connell High School Baseball Team for state championship in 1974 and his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do were important components of making him the unique person that he was.

Dr. Hempel mentored numerous young clinicians including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and paraprofessionals. He made an indelible mark on those he taught and he taught many a person formally and even more people informally. Moreover, he was an expert at fostering others’ interests in research while giving them the power of belief – belief in themselves, their intellectual skills, and their worth as thinkers. Dr. Hempel will long continue to touch countless lives through the skills he helped to develop in many fine clinicians and researchers as well as the consumers of mental health services.

Preceded in death by his father, survivors include his beloved wife and companion, Adele Hempel; mother, Lucy Hempel; brother, Chris Hempel and wife Vicki.

Honorary pallbearers are Henry Dalehite, Joe Ray Flores, Michael Micheletti, Chris Hempel, Trevor Leinbach, Matt Hempel, Christi Fry, Lisa Hempel and Sean Hempel.

In observance of Tony Hempel’s wishes, the family requests no flowers. Donations to ILADS for Lyme Disease International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, Barbara L. Buchman, Executive Director P.O. Box 341461 Bethesda, MD 20827-1461  lymedocs@aol.com  or the Jack Johnson Memorial Fund in Galveston would be appreciated.