In memoriam: Peter L. Myers, Ph.D

Peter L. Myers Ph.D. Outgoing Editor of this journal and retired Professor at Essex County College, Newark, N.J., passed away on September 28, 2020 from a pulmonary embolism. Peter was a leader in the addiction counselor training field who will be fondly remembered for his warmth, wit, and generosity of spirit and intellect.

Peter Myers was born in 1942 in New York City where he began and completed his formal education, earning a Ph.D. in Anthropology from NYU, where his father, Bernard Myers, had been a professor of art history. Growing up in Greenwich Village; coming of age during the Beat Generation; getting one of Bob Dylan’s cats; moving to Brooklyn; hosting fieldtrips to Chinatown for anthropology students; Peter was an inveterate New Yorker. He was very proud of having won the NYC Science Fair in biology when in 10th grade for mutating protozoa with his dentist’s x-rays. Peter’s doctoral dissertation reported on his ethnographic fieldwork as Senior Addiction Specialist in NYC Addictions Services/Phoenix Youth Centers during the emergence of therapeutic communities. In 1967, he married Susan Briggs Myers, who survives him, as do their two daughters, Molly and Emma, and three grandchildren.

Peter had a lifelong commitment to social justice and equality, in his youth he was a member of the Young People’s Socialist League, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). He participated in the 1963 March on Washington, picketed a Woolworth lunch counter, and maintained a long-standing commitment to civil rights and an appreciation of diverse cultures.

After the rebellious summer of 1968, Peter began a distinguished academic career at Essex County College (ECC), a fledgling community college in Newark, NJ, where he remained until his retirement in 2008. He developed numerous courses and programs at ECC, chiefly human services, mental health, and addictions curricula. Peter was a prolific and highly successful grant writer, including three U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education drug abuse prevention programs, a SAMHSA Project for Addiction Counselor Training (PACT) statewide program, and several addiction-related initiatives funded by state, county and municipal funding. He chaired numerous committees and task forces at ECC, including a periodic regional accreditation report. He also was an Adjunct Professor at Montclair State University, New York City College of Technology/CUNY, New York University, Washburn University, Grand Canyon University, and Rio Salado College.

Peter Myers was deeply involved in numerous addictions counseling professional organizations. He served on the Board of Directors for the International Coalition for Addiction Studies Education (INCASE) from 1985 to 2014, including a term (1997–1998) as President. Through INCASE he Chaired a Program Approval Committee, which eventually merged with NAADC, the Association for Addiction Professionals to form the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission, LLC (NASAC). Peter was a member (1980–88) of the Associate Board of Regents of the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, NY; served on the Advisory Committee of the Long Island School of Nursing (1984–1998) and on the Advisory Board of the Stanley S. Lamm Institute for Child Neurology and Developmental Medicine (1985–1994). He was Director of the Higher Education Consortium for Drug Abuse Prevention in Northern NJ (1990–1997) and Director of the national Alliance of Higher Education Drug Prevention Consortia (1990–1992). After his retirement, he joined the Columbia County Pathways to Recovery of Ghent, NY.

Peter Myers was an active scholar including various editorial roles. He was the founding Editor (2001–2014) of the Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse which was initially published by The Haworth Press and then by Routledge/Taylor & Francis. He was the Editor for two works published by The Haworth Press; 21^st Century Research on Ethnicity and Drugs (2007) and Tobacco and Ethnicity (2008). He was the Series Editor (2013–2016) for the ABC-CLIO/Greenwood series The Story of a Drug. Peter served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Teaching in the Addictions (2001–2010) and the AMERSA/INCASE journal Substance Abuse (2010–2014). Peter was equally active as an author coauthoring four books on substance use and authoring or coauthoring over thirty other scholarly publications, primarily on addictions and on ethnic medicine.