I. Boszormenyi-Nagy, 86, psychiatrist

Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy, 86, of Glenside, a psychiatrist who developed a new approach to family therapy, died of complications from Parkinson's disease Jan. 28 at home.

For 25 years, Dr. Nagy was professor of psychiatry and chief of family therapy at Hahnemann University Hospital. He also maintained a private practice in Ambler and then in Glenside. He retired in 1999.

In the late 1970s, Dr. Nagy founded the Institute of Contextual Growth to offer training programs in the contextual approach to family therapy. The approach, which he developed, emphasizes the need for ethical principles to be integrated into the therapeutic process. Dr. Nagy believed that trust, loyalty and mutual support were key elements underlying relationships that hold families together, and that the family therapist's role was to develop a sense of fairness among family members.

Dr. Nagy's wife, Catherine Ducommun-Boszormenyi-Nagy, who is also a psychiatrist, continues to operate the Institute of Contextual Growth in Glenside. Dr. Nagy was the author of six books and many articles and book chapters. He was co-author of the book Invisible Loyalties, which has influenced generations of family therapists around the world, his wife said.

A native of Hungary, Dr. Nagy earned a medical degree from the Peter Pazmany Catholic University in Budapest. He completed a psychiatric residency in Budapest and then was a professor at the University of Budapest. He resisted Hitler and later Stalin, his wife said, and left Hungary in 1948. For two years he was a consulting psychiatrist for an international refugee organization in Austria. After immigrating to the United States in 1950, he was a research scientist in Chicago and then was a professor at the University of Chicago and at the State University of New York in Syracuse.

In 1957, he joined the staff at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Philadelphia, where he headed the family psychiatry department for 20 years. He was a founding member of the Family Institute of Philadelphia and of the American Family Therapy Academy.

Although he struggled with Parkinson's disease for 10 years and had to use a wheelchair, his wife said, he continued to travel and was guest of honor at several international conferences on family therapy.

Since first returning 19 years ago, he visited Hungary many times, she said, and his native country remained close to his heart. In 2000, he received a Presidential Medal from Árpád Göncz, first president of the Republic of Hungary.

In addition to his wife of 19 years, Dr. Nagy is survived by a son, Stephen. He was predeceased by his former wife, Maria Boszormenyi-Nagy.

The funeral and burial will be this month in Kulsovat, Dr. Nagy's ancestral village in Hungary. A memorial gathering will be held in Philadelphia in the spring.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy Endowed Scholarship Fund, Attention: Kathy Gallager, Drexel University, 1505 Race St., Philadelphia 19102.