Professor Ivor Browne, who has died aged 94, was a leading psychiatrist who held senior positions in the Irish health system and in the academic world as well as being a talented musician. Born on March 18, 1929 at 1 Sandycove Avenue in south Co Dublin, he was christened with the first names William Ivory. However, when he discovered later that “William Ivory” had been the name of a Cromwellian soldier who was given the lands of the Browne family in the townland of Mulrankin, Co Wexford, after Oliver Cromwell crushed the rebellion of 1649, the name Ivor became his preferred option.
Ivor Browne, who died on Wednesday at the age of 94, was lauded by his admirers like a mystical guru and seen as misguided by more orthodox psychiatrists who were sceptical of some of his techniques.