Gleaming in the summer sunshine, a long line of black limousines, sport utility vehicles and other cars ferried dignitaries last week to the Grosse Ile Presbyterian Church, on a residential island just south of this city
Among the passengers were Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham; Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans; President George W. Bush's top adviser, Karl Rove; Detroit's mayor, Dennis Archer; and dozens of top corporate executives.
It was just the kind of event that Heinz Prechter, chairman of ASC Inc, would have enjoyed, darting about to greet friends in his German-accented English, shaking hands and patting shoulders. Instead, the throng of 700 had gathered for Prechter's funeral, held five days after he committed suicide on July 6 at age 59.
The news was a jolt to Detroit's business leaders, who knew Prechter as an ebullient German immigrant who had arrived in the United States with US$11 in his pocket and had made a fortune in the auto business. Even more shocking was the cause. For years, Prechter had been under treatment for severe depression.
His condition was a secret to all but his family and some close friends. Publicly, Prechter displayed a carefree persona as a political fund-raiser and the sole owner of a privately held company -- with US$550 million in revenues -- that perfected the sunroof and helped develop specialty cars like the Dodge Viper.
His secrecy was not surprising. "There is still this enormous embarrassment in America about having some mental health problem," said Ronald C. Kessler, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. "The workplace is the last bastion" of secrecy.
Prechter was certainly not alone among business and political leaders who have faced depression. Ted Turner was treated for manic depression in 1985 and took lithium for years. And George Stephanopoulos, the former aide to President Bill Clinton, has openly discussed his treatment.
The stigma may have been greater a generation ago, when Senator Thomas Eagleton was forced to step aside as the Democratic vice presidential candidate after acknowledging that he had undergone electroshock treatments for depression. And in 1963, Philip Graham, the chairman of the Washington Post Co, committed suicide after struggling with depression.
Even those who knew that Prechter was ill had been buoyed during his last weeks, when his joie de vivre, absent in recent months as he battled an injury, seemed to have returned. "I thought this time he had made it back," said Governor John Engler of Michigan, who delivered a eulogy.
Prechter's death has already raised local consciousness. Calls to the University of Michigan's Depression Center, where Prechter received treatment, more than doubled in the three days after his death. And his affliction was openly discussed throughout his 90-minute funeral. "We come here to acknowledge that emotional depression robs one of hope," said the Rev Karl Travis in an opening prayer.
Nationally, clinical depression takes a nearly US$44 billion annual toll in the workplace, according to the National Mental Health Association. At any time, one in 14 employees suffers from depression, with more than 200 million workdays lost each year. Symptoms range from low morale and fatigue to alcohol or drug abuse. About 12 percent of men and up to 25 percent of women suffer from depression during their lifetimes, the association said. While more women attempt suicide, men are more likely to be successful, doctors say.
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