An activist for human rights, West achieved international recognition for his research on cults and his studies of brainwashing, torture, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorders and violence.

     In great demand as an expert witness, West examined Jack Ruby following Ruby's trial and conviction for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, and evaluated Patricia Hearst before her trial for armed bank robbery.

     West, whose mother gave him the middle name Jolyon after reading "The Forsyte Saga," did his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin and his Army specialized training at the State University of Iowa. He received his M.D. from the University of Minnesota and, at 29, was appointed as professor and head of the Department of Psychiatry, Neurology and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Oklahoma in 1954. West moved to UCLA in 1969 to become director of the NPI and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. 

     "He was a visionary," said Herbert Weiner, a professor emeritus of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and a close friend of West's. "From an early age he fought actively and ceaselessly for individual freedom and dignity, opposing prejudice, violence, bigotry and the subjugation and mistreatment of others in whatever guise and form."

     West is survived by his wife of 54 years, Kathryn L. West; their three children, Anne, Mary and John; and a sister, Nancy Wheeler of St. Paul, Minn.