E. Michael Gutman

E. Michael Gutman was a character; a man for all seasons; a Renaissance Man. He liked to think he lived Harold Robbin’s theme of “live fast, die young and have a good looking corpse.” He indeed lived Lou Pesce’s quote of “Every day is Thanksgiving and every night is New Year’s Eve. Born in Pittsburgh, he and his family moved to Miami when he was 10 y/o. He loved Miami ‘til the day he died. Politically, he was a “hairshirt conservative Republican”; but he was not above being Co-Chair of George Wallace’s and Paul Tsongas’ Campaigns – just to get some notoriety, fame, and his name in the paper. He also got his name in the paper when he collected 100,000 signatures for President Nixon in October 1993 – before Watergate came to light – after Nixon resupplied Israel following the Yom Kippur War. (He wanted to show his appreciation to Nixon, so he formed “The President’s Friends.” He and the family delivered them to the White House, and the next week, Nixon went on TV, thanking five Jacksonville businessmen for the signatures – that was the kind of guy Nixon was – so EMG later became “The President’s Un-Friend.”) “Mike,” as he liked to be called, with his wife Donna formed “The Gutman Shuttle” that brought in 1300 Vietnamese Refugees in 1976 from Eglin Air Force Base after the fall of Saigon. They sponsored four different families in their home, and “The Shuttle” led to Orlando having 10,000 plus Vietnamese people – the largest concentration of any city in Florida. Mike always wanted to erect a statue of him and Donna, or a bronze replica of the picture of him crying and hugging the Vietnamese doctor he first greeted on the tarmac. That picture appeared on every Florida front page, and page 19 of the next TIME magazine. That was the picture that got “The Shuttle” started. When Dave Flaxer’s mother saw him crying, she said, “Mike must have really been emotional.” Dave quipped, “No, not really. He cries on Groundhog’s Day.” He adored and respected Donna – and that showed, because she was the only person who could manage and control his swashbuckling ways. He was known by his kids, six of his own and four of Donna’s, to be “very generous.” But he was very generous to all, especially his patients. He could always see good in everyone and he gave of his time, money, and expertise to help the hurting in others. He was a Forensic (legal) Psychiatrist with double Diplomate in Boards that only 200 or so out of 35,000 psychiatrists. He loved words and sayings, and he was pedantic about showing off his gargantuan vocabulary and prestigious understanding of the English language. He “cut to the quick” in speech and words, and was a “master of contest living” in his competitive spirit to best his opponent – either in the courtroom, court, or whatever the game. Mike was also a gambler. He was proud that he played the Lotto every Saturday since it became into being on May 8, 1988. He primarily liked the Futures and he lost big dollars on three separate ventures into Orange Juice futures. He went bankrupt in 1975 after going into a bad venture in the CB business. He got into that one after going to Washington for the striking truckers that he befriended. Dave Flaxer once said of him, “Of 9 million stories in the Naked City -- Mike Gutman has been involved in 8 million 999,999 thousand of them.” Mike was a benevolent cynic and most of his good friends were cynics. He liked wry humor and his favorite guys were Winston Churchill, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. Mike was a card carrying member of the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, Florida Psychiatric Society, Florida Medical Association, Orange County Medical Society, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, American College of Legal Medicine, Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon Medical Fraternity, International Palm Society, U.S. and Super Seniors Tennis Associations, American Legion and Moose Lodge. He was proud of having his Concealed Gun Permit. He was also proud that he and Donna made out a life plan for their retirement so they could enjoy life and each other with some comfort. As part of that life plan was to pre-buy and pay for their funeral arrangements and write their obits so their kids would have it all done ahead of time. (Please buy special newspaper space for these lengthy obits.) Mike was a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Past President and Vice President of the Florida Psychiatric Society. He started the Seminole County Mental Health Clinic in 1968 and was with the Orange County mental Health Services for 10 years, three of them as Chief Psychiatrist. He had been on the Board of Trustees of the Seminole Community College. He gave stimulating, education and entertaining speeches on psychiatry and politics to hundreds of civic, medical, and political organizations and he was interviewed by the Sentinel, and other periodicals countless times for articles on psychiatry. He appeared on TV and radio regularly to give his opinions on subjects dealing with serial murderers to Parent Power (his style of structuring the home for parents to discipline the children). He was also a published author of the book What’s Wrong With Me Doc? and several medical and non-medical articles. There were lots of things he liked, including: hot peppers and Tabasco; ethnic food; bar hopping; vodka; caper cutting; sipping lemon water; sex; ethnic food; garlic (of which he often smelled); beer; Jack Daniels; palm growing; driving in Donna’s convertible; and going on beach vacations where he could play with the sand, sun, surf, snook and fishing, sea, seashells, suds, seafood, and shorts. He also loved fires in the fireplace, The Gators, The Canes, The Stingarees, tennis, baseball, The Dolphins, The Marlins, The Magic, Miami (where he grew up), war and spy pictures, Roget’s Thesaurus and other vocabulary and sayings books, movies on television, classical music and country music, mixed chorus at Miami High School prepped him for always singing the national anthem at its every public playing; Christmas Carols and singing songs. HE was proud of being a Captain in the Army and Veteran of Viet Nam and he proudly flew daily a lighted, all-weather American flag. He loved holiday family parties and reunions. He loved antiques and he could never throw things away owing to his obsessive-compulsive personality streak. At cocktail parties he loved to banter and joust with smart people, and fellow cynics. He loved to swim in his pool playing tag with his pool vac and ogling his palm jungle and the Purple Martin birds that flitted about the Martin House he erected. His favorite outfit was a pair of green army shorts, a mock turtle-neck shirt, white wool athletic socks, K-Swiss tennis shoes, dink hat and no underwear (the outfit in which he’ll be buried.) There were lots of things Mike didn’t like. Those include: Barbara Streisand, except when she sang the song, “Memories”; his computer that he fussed with but didn’t like; Jane Fonda who palled with the North Vietnamese; the taste of Sago; talk shows other than Rush Limbaugh; people with “attitude problems and a chip-on-their-shoulder; hockey; soccer; basketball except for The Magic; sitcoms and soap operas; coats and ties; flying; weddings and fancy events; Hilary Clinton and other Feminist women (although he was pro-choice but anti-abortion). He was not too crazy about his mother who he thought was a domineering, controlling, castrating Jewish mother who put him in “double binds” (E.G.: “eat the cookies how come you ate all the cookies?”). He wasn’t too close to his sister, Marcia, but he loved her and would do anything for her if she needed him. He was close to his sister-in-law, Lynn, and his nieces and nephew Cathy, Chevon, Nancy and Bobby. Mike had great personal friendships with so many people it would take a newspaper to list. Instead he’ll just give them by alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. Mike was a privately shy person. He was one of the 10% of people with the Behavior Inhibition Gene, who have quirky ways. His included: not liking the telephone; taking things back to the store; walking across a crowded room; calling for reservations; and being criticized. If he were in his “on stage personality” mode where he was in control he was a laugh-‘em-up, life-of-the-party guy. But, when not in control, his shy streak made him socially self conscious and made it impossible to say “No” to salespeople. His father, Robert (who he adored) and his son, Robert, had the shyness streak, as well as the gambling streak (as did his paternal uncles Charlie and Jules). Mike is going to miss his ten kids and they’ll miss him. He had lots of fun with them: Reina, Elana, Robert, Marta, Andrew, Adam, Craig, Brent, Jeannette, Cheri; his “grans” who include Michelle, Amanda, Michael, David, Ben, Julia, John, William, Molly, Jon, Sara, Daniel, Christian, Noah, Sydney, Cecelia; and, his “great grans” Deaunte, Makayla, and Andre. It took three marriages for Mike to find the “love of his life.” Donna is, was, and always will be his “best buddy and first friend.” He’d give up his life for her and he’ll Rest In Peace knowing she’ll be next to him in the crypts at the Tower mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery. Happy he’ll be that he’ll have a Jewish Funeral and bagpipes will play Amazing Grace and his marker will say: NOT MY FAVORITE ART FORM -- A MASTER AT CONTEST LIVING and VERY GENEROUS. Funeral Services will be held on Friday, May 1, 2009 at 3 PM in the chapel of Woodlawn Funeral Home. Entombment to follow at Woodlawn Memorial Park with military honors. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the University of Miami, School of Medicine, PO Box 288073, Coral Gables, FL 33124, in memory of Dr. E. Michael Gutman.
Published in the Orlando Sentinel on 4/30/2009