Sydney G. Salus
2007
Sydney G. Salus, 86, a Washington psychiatrist and professor who trained more than 100 psychoanalysts in the region and was a leading local presence in child psychiatry, died May 15 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his home in Hillsboro Beach, Fla.
Dr. Salus was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Washington, graduating from  Roosevelt High School. After two years at Georgetown University, he transferred to George Washington University, from which he graduated in 1943.
During World War II, he served in a psychological unit of the Army Air Forces' medical corps, administering tests to service members. He graduated from Philadelphia's Hahnemann Medical College (now the Drexel University College of Medicine) in 1950. He came to Washington the following year for a two-year residency in psychiatry with the Veterans Administration.
After a year of further training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Dr. Salus entered private practice in 1954. Early in his career, he was a consultant to the U.S. Information Agency and the National Institute of Mental Health and also worked at the Fairfax Child Guidance Clinic. He was later a consultant and supervising psychiatrist at National Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Dr. Salus consulted at Duke University from 1960 to 1964 and at the University of Pittsburgh from 1968 to 1971. He was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine from 1969 to 1975.
He was affiliated with the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute for 37 years, training in both adult and child psychiatry. He later taught a variety of courses and helped train more than 130 Washington-area psychoanalysts. He retired in 1989 from both teaching and his private practice.
After living for many years in Bethesda and McLean, Dr. Salus moved to Florida in 1992. In retirement, he sometimes lectured at the Florida Psychoanalytic Institute.
His marriage to Mimi Salus ended in divorce.
A son from that marriage, Gary Salus, died in 1998.
Survivors include his wife of 28 years, Virginia Salus of Hillsboro Beach; two children from his first marriage, Robert Salus of New Orleans and Gail Salus of Studio City, Calif.; and a grandson.