Donald Greene, 78, neurologist at area hospitals

DONALD S. GREENE

Dr. Donald Sumner Greene, a neurologist who served on the staffs of several hospitals, died of Alzheimer's disease - the disease he was an expert at treating - on March 25 at the Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica Plain. He was 78 and lived in Boston, previously in Brookline.

Dr. Greene grew up in Malden, graduating from Malden High School in 1947 with the distinction of being named "wittiest boy." He met his wife, Bette (Evensky) at the wedding of one of his friends in Memphis. Though Dr. Greene had brought a date, and a friend of his had spent most of the evening with Bette, he asked her on a date first.

Dr. Greene "preempted the guy and called me first," Bette said. The two were married a year later.

He received his bachelor's degree from Boston University in 1952 and a master's in psychology from the University of Texas in 1955. He studied medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, where he worked odd jobs to finance school.

One of those jobs was to use a Geiger counter to measure radiation levels in cow glands, working with the noted researcher Dr. Lester Van Middlesworth. Their work helped to verify that the Soviet Union had detonated a nuclear bomb.

Dr. Greene served as a resident in psychiatry at Boston State Hospital and became chief resident in neurology at the Boston VA Hospital. For 40 years, he had a private neurology practice on Beacon Street in Brookline and served on the staffs of New England Baptist Hospital, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, and New England Medical Center.

Colleagues said Dr. Greene was part of a group of neurologists who believed that their field could be used to treat conditions previously confined to psychiatry.

"He was one of the core people in, for lack of a better term, what might be considered psycho-neurology in Boston," said Dr. Allan Ropper, executive vice chairman of neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

He noted that Dr. Greene and his contemporaries fought an uphill battle to bring credence to their ideas, which are now among the core principles of treating mental illness.

He had the unusual hobby, his wife said, of translating popular songs - like the theme from "Popeye" - into Latin.

"If people pushed him - and if he had a little too much wine - he would sing one of his songs," Mrs. Greene said.

As Dr. Greene's illness worsened, he kept his sense of humor, his wife said, and the couple continued to travel, taking a cruise to Antarctica two years ago.

In addition to his wife of 49 years, Dr. Greene leaves a daughter, Carla of West Newton; a son, Jordan of Baltimore; one grandson; and three granddaughters.

Services will be private.