Dr. Henry Braddock, a mental health and substance abuse counselor and psychologist, also was a ninth-degree Black Belt.
He put all to use in a decades-long career in Atlanta, notably during the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-81. He calmed fears in the black community. He taught young people to be aware of their surroundings. He held court in community centers, churches, schools and the projects.
"He was all over the place," said Jennie Donaldson, a retired nurse educator and mental health director who teamed up Dr. Braddock on various causes. "He would demonstrate to young teenagers how easy it was to catch them and drag them to a car. He was extremely active in the community."
Dr. Braddock was born in Ripley, Miss., the first of three children born to the late Henry and Essie Braddock. He was raised in Battle Creek, Mich., a 1966 graduate of Battle Creek Central High. The honor student earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Michigan.
He was an Army ROTC cadet at Michigan State University, where he earned a master's degree and doctorate in psychology.
In Atlanta, he operated Braddock & Associates , which provided counseling services to county, state and federal agencies, among others. He also focused on the inner-city.
"He could have done a whole lot more as it relates to financial gain and fame," said daughter Crystal N. Braddock of Atlanta, "but he did things at the more grassroots and local level. He thought mental illness and substance abuse were ravishing inner-city families, destroying them."
In practice, Dr. Braddock soon learned that theories studied in college didn't always apply to the community he chose to serve. "The script didn't work for black mental health needs," Donaldson said. "He spoke the language of the poor."
In 2007, Dr. Braddock suffered a debilitating stroke. Last fall, family moved him from the local VA hospital to one in Detroit so he could be near a greater pool of relatives.
On Nov. 21, Dr. Henry Orville Braddock died from complications of a stroke at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit. He was 61. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hillside International Truth Center in Atlanta.
Dr. Braddock spent nearly 40 years in Atlanta as a clinical psychologist, trainer, lecturer and intervention specialist. He was a Fulton County education consultant and counselor. He was a consultant to Judge Clarence Cooper during the Atlanta Child Murders trial.
Dr. Braddock attended the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, where he completed a 12-course study in theology. The Rev. Willie Webb, pastor of Foundation Baptist Church in Atlanta, praised the psychologist's ability to lecture and preside over seminar topics that ranged from substance abuse to mental health, criminal justice and cultural diversity.
Rev. Webb called Dr. Braddock's involvement during the Atlanta child murders immeasurable during a trying period of the city's history.
"It was a serious crisis and the whole community was very fearful," he said. "To have someone like him in the spotlight was very consoling."
Dr. Braddock married four times; all ended in divorce. His children from those marriages grew up in St. Louis, Ann Arbor and Atlanta. Crystal, a daughter raised in Michigan, remembers spending summers in Atlanta with her father, save for a few.
"He was doing so much work with the murders," she said, "and he didn't think we'd be safe, so we didn't visit. We'd see him on the news a lot. He was on Ted Koppel's "Nightline." I will never forget that."
It was the Atlanta child murders that brought Dr. Braddock back to Atlanta. Prior to his return, he had spent three years as a territorial psychologist in the Virgin Islands. When he returned to the city he never left again until his health failed.
Additional survivors include two other daughters, Dara L. Braddock of Chicago and Kelly Smith of Stone Mountain; three sons, Errin R. Braddock of St. Louis; Damion Hughes of Atlanta and Michael Smith of Stone Mountain; two sisters, Beatrice Braddock Herring and E. Lynn Braddock, both of Chesapeake, Va.; and one grandchild.
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