Christmas Eve fire kills physician Christmas Eve fire kills physician (December 29, 2004)

by Jay Thorwaldson

Julian Pichel, a longtime psychiatrist at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, died Saturday from burns he received during an accidental fire in his Atherton home on Christmas Eve, despite efforts of a caretaker to pull him from a burning bedroom. He was 80.

Dr. Pichel's wife, Cecile, 79, a counselor in Menlo Park, was in critical condition from smoke inhalation Sunday at Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

Dr. Pichel was treated initially for burns and smoke inhalation and then transferred to the VMC burn unit.

While fire officials initially indicated he may have been using barbecue-lighter fluid to start a firelog in a small bedroom woodstove, his son, Stephen Pichel, said that is incorrect -- there was a can of lighter fluid across the room, but it was intact.

Instead, he believes his father may have accidentally ignited a sweater or a shirt he was wearing at a family Christmas dinner earlier that evening, and possibly fallen into some pine cones near the fireplace as he tried to remove the sweater. Dr. Pichel had severe burns to his arms, and there was no sign of fire inside the woodstove, he said. Fire damage was limited mostly to the bedroom area.

He said his mother's cries alerted the caretaker, who lived in a cottage on the Pichel's property in the Lindenwood area of Atherton. The caretaker dialed 9-1-1 and ran to assist. He said she moved onto the property last spring following his father's valve-replacement heart surgery, which left him with occasional balance problems.

He had high praise for Donna, who suffered smoke inhalation but was not hospitalized.

Prior to his heart operation, Dr. Pichel had remained active, even playing tennis following a knee replacement three years ago. Cecile "Cece" Pichel still was seeing counseling clients. They celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary last August.

Stephen Pichel said he had dropped his parents at their home less than an hour before the accident, which occurred shortly after 10 p.m. The family had gathered in the Woodside home of the Pichels' daughter, Linda Arata, for a family dinner. Dr. Pichel also is survived by Cathy Cook, a twin sister to Linda, and by five grandchildren.

He said the family "had a wonderful dinner. We're very thankful for that.

"From my perspective, he was a good father, a good provider and a good husband," he said Sunday while arranging matters at the Atherton home. "He was a very respected psychiatrist and professional person, and was kind and caring."

Dr. Pichel joined the Clinic's Psychiatry Department in the early 1950s and practiced for about 30 years prior to his retirement. He was the son of the late actor and director Irving Pichel. Dr. Pichel was drafted into the U.S. Army in World War II and received his M.D. from Yale Medical School through an Army program. Following an internship in Tacoma, Wash. The family moved to Belmont when he joined the Clinic in the early 1950s. The Pichels moved into their Eichler-style Atherton home in May, 1955. Services are pending, and the family requests no flowers.

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