Morton I. Teicher, Ph.D., dean of the UNC School of Social Work from 1972 to 1981, and an NASW Social Work Pioneer, died on June 13 at age 97.
Teicher, who was known for his dignified appearance and manner, was “well-respected by faculty and students as a social work leader and scholar,” said current Dean Gary L. Bowen.
“Dr. Teicher played an important role in my return to the UNC School of Social Work as an assistant professor in 1985,” said Bowen, who first encountered Teicher as a student in the mid-seventies. “He was very excited when I joined the faculty, and I so much appreciated his warm reception and support.”
Born in the Bronx in 1920, Teicher earned his Ph.D. in anthropology, and performed field work among the Inuit and the Iroquois. His distinguished career in social work took him to Boston, Toronto, New York, Lusaka, Zambia, Jerusalem, Chapel Hill and Miami. According to the NASW Foundation, Teicher was among the first social workers to achieve officer status in the U.S. Army. He was also one of the first military psychiatric social workers, serving in the China-Burma-India Theater for more than two years during World War II.
An active member of the NASW since its foundation, Teicher was appointed to a commission that produced the first Code of Ethics for the social work profession. He arrived at Carolina after serving for 15 years as dean of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University, where Teicher “taught and modeled political involvement for social change” – activism that earned him praise from Eleanor Roosevelt in 1959.
Teicher’s contributions to the field of social work and to the School will long be remembered, Bowen agreed.
