Jerry Tinklenberg
Nov. 25, 1939-Nov. 18, 2020
Palo Alto, California

On Wednesday November 18, 2020 Jared (Jerry) Tinklenberg, M.D. passed away at age 80 with his wife and daughters by his side. Jerry was born on November 25, 1939 in South Dakota. His father was a chaplain in the US Navy, serving in World War II. Jerry was a football and track star in high school and after graduation he volunteered for six month active duty training in the US Army and then eight years in the Reserves. He received his Bachelors and Medical Degree from the University of Iowa. In 1964 he married Mae Van der Weerd and they moved to New Haven for his internship at Yale.

In 1966, Karla was born and they moved to California for Jerry’s psychiatry residency at Stanford. In 1968, Julie was born and they bought a home in Palo Alto in which they resided for the rest of his life. Jerry then joined the Stanford Faculty, where he focused on psychopharmacology research. In 1974, he was selected to serve on the White House Drug Abuse Council, so the family moved to Washington D.C. for a year. Jerry then expanded his research at the VA Alzheimer’s Center and he received tenure in 1977. In honor of his long-time work at Stanford, in 2017 his daughters endowed the Jared and Mae Tinklenberg Professorship Chair.

Jerry enjoyed running marathons in his younger years, birdwatching more recently, and hiking with his family throughout his life. He was a long-time member of First Congregational Church in Palo Alto. He will be missed for his kindness, patience, intellectual curiosity and his attentive devotion to others. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mae, his daughters, Karla and Julie, and his sisters, Lois and Yvonne. In lieu of gifts, donations may be sent to Human Rights Watch or The Nature Conservancy.

Tags: veteran, teacher/educator, public service