Meyer Rabban, a summer resident of Chilmark since 1976, died at his home in New York city on June 8, 2009. He was 90. He is survived by Elana, his beloved wife of 60 years, his loving children, David, Miriam and Jessica, Jessica’s husband, Matthew Schofield, and their two children, Rebecca and Benjamin.

He was a member of the psychology faculty at Sarah Lawrence College from 1949 to 1989. He taught part-time at the college from 1955 to 1961 when he was the director of the Windward School, a parent cooperative in White Plains, N.Y. Many of his students served as teaching aides and used their experience for their tutorials.

From 1960 to 1978, he was the director of Camp Rainbow, a summer program for children ages seven to twelve who were referred from mental health agencies, family and social service agencies and private therapists. He also used the setting as a teaching laboratory for the college students and young professionals on staff.

He was a teacher in the evening program of the Bank Street College of Education from 1950 to 1960.

He served as an associate with the department of social and community psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1961 to 1969 with responsibility for contact with local schools.

He spent the sabbatical of 1967 to 1968 as an associate at the Tavistock Center in London, England and again as a visiting scholar at the center in 1973 to 1974. A third sabbatical was spent at the B.M. Mental Health Institute in Ahmedabad, India in 1981, where he added a group to a cross-cultural study.

After graduation from high school in Weirton, West Virginia, Mr. Rabban attended the University of Pittsburgh where he graduated in 1939. From 1939 to 1942, he was the national administrative secretary of the American Student Zionist Federation. From 1942 to 1946, he served with the United States Army in Europe, most of the time with the 26th Infantry Division. After the war, he was on special duty at Bad Ischl, Austria to assist the resettlement of survivors of the Matthausen and Ebensee concentration camps.

He received his doctorate at Columbia University in 1950. He often credited the G.I. Bill for having launched his career. From 1952 to 1959, he was the director of a demonstration project sponsored by Bronx House Emmanuel Community House for children ages three to seven and their mothers using a staff largely of students from Bank Street College.

At a tribute celebrating his 85th birthday, a former student wrote: “You made your students feel worthy and aware of a whole new world of ideas and action. You introduced me to a way of working and thinking that framed my future. With my research in East Harlem, I discovered the pleasure and excitement of working in the field and trying to understand the life of others. Empowerment was what you did for me and all your students. You made us feel we could ‘do it’ with your intelligent caring and support, and we did. Fifty years later, with your voice in my ear, I continue to appreciate my mentor.”

Dr. Michael Jellinek, chief of child psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, who succeeded him as director of Camp Rainbow after his years as a staff member wrote in the 85th birthday tribute: “You certainly know how much you have influenced my professional life. You demonstrated how to respect children, how to listen, how in a loving and sensitive environment children can recover and thrive. I saw hundreds of children improve under your care and numerous staff mature into both better future parents and many into helping professionals.”

Contributions in his honor may be made to the scholarship fund of Sarah Lawrence College, the New Israel Fund, or the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.