Waltraud "Wally" Prechter

7/23/08. Today, Wally Prechter spoke to our Psychological Aspects of Dentistry class at the University of Detroit Mercy, School of Dentistry about manic-depressive illness or bipolar disorder. I teach this course with another UDM Faculty member, Ms. Kim Werth, a dental hygienist and a counselor.

Wally left a deep impression on the students and faculty with her knowledge, compassion, integrity, and commitment to improving research and treatment for bipolar disorder.

She has lived through the nightmare of her husband's mental illness and now continues to triumph over her trauma and give back to her community and country.

Wally is on a mission to cure the illness that robbed the life of her brilliant and creative husband who committed suicide on July 6, 2001. Heinz Prechter was a victim of manic depression, a psychiatric illness with a strong genetic base, with no known cause or cure.

As an immigrant from Germany coming to a land he grew to love deeply, Heinz Prechter introduced the sunroof to North America and founded the American Sunroof Company starting his journey to success from a one man operation in a two car garage in Los Angeles --- before becoming a leader in Detroit's downriver community.


To suffer from manic depression is to have a brain disease. About 2 1/2 percent of the population age 18 years and over --- about 5.7 million American have manic depression in a given year. Manic depression is a treatable condition --- with medication such as Lithium and psychological therapy --- many people with the illness go on to lead normal, often highly productive lives. But many with illness never get properly diagnosed, and even when diagnosed they often do not receive the treatment they need and do not consistently take their life saving medications.

Send donations to the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Fund of the University of Michigan:

U of M Office, Depression Center Development Office, MCHC F6241, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-02905 or phone 734.647.9138.