Charles Frederick Menninger (11 July 1862 - 28 November 1953)[1] [2] was a physician who co-founded the Menninger Foundation with his sons, Karl and William.[3]
Charles Menninger was born in Tell City, Indiana on July 11, 1862. He was the sixth of August Valentine and Katarina (née Schmitberger) Menninger's eight children and their youngest son.[4] Menninger obtained a bachelor's degree from Central Normal College in 1882 and after graduating he accepted a teaching position at Campbell College.[5]
Menninger married Florence Vesta Knisley, on January 15, 1885 and together they had three children: Karl, Anna, and William. Florence died on February 9, 1945,[5] and he married Pearl Boam on June 15, 1948. He died on November 28, 1953.[4]
Menninger completed his medical training at Chicago's Hahnemann Medical College in 1889 and moved to Topeka, Kansas where a small medical school, affiliated with Washburn College, was operated by members of the local medical community. He was taken on as a junior partner by Henry Roby, who influenced his pursuit of additional medical training focused on internal medicine and metabolic issues.[5] Menninger graduated from the Kansas Medical College in 1906 and was elected to the faculty of the medical college.[4] In 1919, upon completion of his son Karl's medical training at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the two formed a professional partnership and opened the Menninger Clinic.[5] His other son William C. Menninger joined them in 1925 and the facility was renamed the Menninger Sanitarium.[6] It eventually evolved into the Menninger Foundation, a national institution for the study and care of people suffering from mental illnesses.[4] [6]
The Charles Frederick Menninger Award is given by the American Psychoanalytic Association for original research in psycho-analysis.[7]