Louise Kiessling Fair

Louise Sadler Kiessling Fair, 89, died peacefully at her home in Wakefield, Rhode Island, on October 12, 2023, of congestive heart failure.

Dr. Kiessling (pronounced “KEESE-ling”), as she was known professionally, was a developmental and behavioral pediatrician who spent a long, distinguished career tending to the needs of vulnerable children throughout Rhode Island. She served from 1984–2000 (and again from 2001–2003) as pediatrician-in-chief at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, where she was also founder and director of the hospital’s Neurodevelopmental Center, which specialized in the evaluation and treatment of children with developmental and behavioral concerns.

Dr. Kiessling was a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, and held a master’s degree from Cornell University in psychology and counseling. She worked as a psychologist and social worker in New York state’s public school system before attending medical school. In 1976 she received her M.D. from Brown University, where she became a longtime professor of pediatrics and family medicine.

Though she retired in 2003, Dr. Kiessling never ceased in her passionate commitment to children’s behavioral health. From 2004 until recently, she served in multiple leadership roles with the Washington County Coalition for Children, helping to provide continuing education and training to local pediatricians and mental health providers in Rhode Island’s South County community. One of her last contributions was to be the driving force behind the WCCC’s “Greatest 8” text messaging service, to help parents teach positive mental health skills to their children.

Off the clock, Dr. Kiessling was a voracious reader who liked music, loved gardening, and adored travel. She was born in Yonkers, New York, to Robert Fletcher Sadler, an IBM engineer and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Louise Watermulder, an accountant and the daughter of a pharmacist. After graduating from Barnard, she married Ched Kiessling, from whom she was later divorced.

She is survived by her stepdaughters, Ellen Fair of New York City; and Katherine Fair and her husband, Raphael Colb, of Fort Ann, New York. She was predeceased by her second husband, Charles M. Fair, who died in 2014, and a brother, Robert Fletcher Sadler Jr., who died in 1998.

Burial will be private, and a gathering in her honor will be held in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Washington County Coalition for Children, c/o Wood River Health, 823 Main Street, Hope Valley, RI 02832; HopeHealth Hospice at www.HopeHealthCo.org/InMemory or by mail to HopeHealth Hospice, 1085 North Main Street, Providence, RI 02904; or Reach Out and Read Rhode Island at https://rorri.org/support/ or by mail at 134 Thurbers Avenue, Suite 207, Providence, RI 02905.