Three words come to mind when meeting Dr. Phyllis Loeff: stylish, gracious and smart. Loeff, like so many others, gets up early every day to prepare for work. She exercises, gets dressed and dons makeup before seeing patients in the study at her Highland Park home.

       At 96, Loeff is a psychiatrist who has been practicing for over 50 years. While working at such an age may seem a feat unto itself for many, Loeff is humble.

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       “There’s people who have bad things happen … people who get very depressed and can’t find a way out of the depression — these are patients that I have experience of working with and helping,” Loeff said. “There are people who have behavior patterns that they have to understand or find a way of changing because it bothers other people. I help them readjust themselves to an acceptable place in relationship to those who are close to them. There are people who have lost somebody recently, older people, people over 65, I’m sure I have more of those patients than most younger doctors have because they know that I understand that time of life.”