Howard Silvio Mele

After John Nash was hospitalized in several mental institutions, Alicia Nash, Nash’s wife, had him committed to Carrier Clinic, Belle Mead, N.J., where he met Dr. Howard S. Mele, who played an important and positive role in his life for the next two years. Nash responded quite quickly to his initial treatment with medication along with therapy sessions and also participated in group therapy, which Dr. Mele particularly favored to help treat his patient’s schizophrenia. He helped Nash initiate relationships with other people, as forming positive relationships can be extremely difficult for schizophrenics.

Eventually, Nash left Carrier to enter the world again and agreed to seek outpatient treatment if needed. Dr. Mele felt Nash’s recovery was permanent and that he would gradually be able to handle teaching one or two courses, enabling him to reestablish his status. Later, Nash went on to receive a Nobel Prize for his contributions to game theory. A biography of Nash, A Beautiful Mind, by Sylvia Nasar was published and later a film of the same name was directed by Ron Howard which went on to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Dr. Mele was especially pleased that both the book and film brought schizophrenia to public awareness. The Meles remained lifelong friends of the Nashes until their untimely death.

Dr. Mele died on May 23, 2016 at the age of 88 as a result of complications from a long illness. He will be remembered by family and friends as a caring husband, a loving father and grandfather, a visionary in his field of psychiatry, and a wonderful mentor to many of his students. It was a privilege to know him and he was a great friend who will be cherished and missed. Dr. Mele was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on December 6, 1927 to Lucia Pascale Mele and Emidio Mele. Dr. Mele’s father was president and CEO of Mele Manufacturing Company in upstate N.Y. When Emidio was 12 years old, he was brought to this country and lived with a family in Greenwich Village, who had been neighbors of his family in the province of Avellino in Italy. Emidio went to work as a display builder for jewelry store windows in New York City. He then began to design and build jewelry boxes. In 1912, after marrying, he and his young bride opened a tiny store on Mulberry Street in New York City. Thus began Mele Manufacturing Company, which was eventually incorporated in 1931 to become the nation’s largest manufacturer of jewelry boxes with licensees in England, Wales, and Japan.

In his youth, Dr. Mele and his family lived in Brooklyn where he attended a Jesuit elementary school followed by Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. The family then moved to Port Washington, N.Y., and Dr. Mele went on to enter Princeton University and graduated with honors in psychology in 1948, but remained a member of the “great class of 1949.” His thesis, entitled “The Validity of Hypnotically Induced Color Hallucinations,” was published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1952, 700-704.

He received his MD from the SUNY, Downstate Medical Center in 1952. Following graduation, he did his internship at the VA Hospital in Newington, Conn. and Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn. He spent the first year of his residency at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in New York City. His training was interrupted for two years when he served as a First Lieutenant — Captain in the USAF Medical Corps at the USAF Hospital, Sampson AF Base in Geneva, N.Y. He then completed his residency at Bronx Municipal Hospital which was associated with Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. He had additional training as a non-matriculating student at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Psychoanalysis; hypnosis courses with Herbert Spiegel, MD at the the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; the Western Institute for Group and Family Therapy in Watsonville, Calif.; and both an externship and seminar in Family Therapy at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. He was Board Certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. His academic appointments included clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa. and assistant professor of psychiatry at UMDNJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J. His professional positions included: Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, N.Y.; Yeshiva University, N.Y.C.; and Carrier Foundation, Belle Mead where he was the clinical director of the addiction recovery unit as well as the president of the medical staff. He also enjoyed his private practice. His hospital appointments included the Medical Center at Princeton, and Somerset Medical Center, Somerville, N.J. in addition to Carrier Clinic. He was licensed in N.Y., N.J., New Mexico, and Michigan. His other publication, A Case of Catatonic Stupor with High Fever was published in Psychosomatic Medicine, Excerpta Medica International Congress Series No. 134 and he presented it at the First International Congress of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

He was an avid tennis player and he and his wife, Grace, loved the opera and promoted the arts in Princeton and N.Y.C. The Meles have long been advocates for the promotion of Italian culture and education. They also enjoyed traveling the world over. He was a lifelong member of the American Psychiatric Association, the NJ Psychiatric Association, the Nassau Club, the Old Guard, and his beloved ROMEOS (Retired Old Men Eating Out).

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Grace Romano Mele; a brother, Joseph Mele of Delray Beach, Fla. and South Hampton, N.Y.; predeceased by two brothers, Robert and Eduardo Mele; four children from a previous marriage, Lucia, Christopher, and Antonio Mele of California and Robert Mele of New York; and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, 40 Vandeventer Avenue, Princeton. There will be one viewing on Wednesday, June 1 from 3 to 8 p.m. A memorial service will take place on Thursday, June 2 at the Princeton University Chapel at 10:30 a.m. The burial at Princeton Cemetery is private. The family asks that friends meet at the Nassau Club after the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to NIAF, the National Italian American Foundation, 1860 19th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-5501 or the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ 08540.