Renate Homey, 1916-2009

Renate Horney died in February 2009 in her 93rd year. She was the youngest daughter of Karen Horney, a founding member of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, the founding editor of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, the founder of the American Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, as well as author of eight books and more than 100 articles.

In October of 2005, to celebrate the 120th Anniversary of Karen Horney's birth, Renate and her sister, Marianne Horney Eckardt, M.D., a noted psychoanalyst herself, flew in to New York from their residence in California and joined the members of the Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Center on two occasions. We were deeply grateful that they came across the country from California to share their memories of their mother, and a big crowd showed up at both meetings to greet them.

On Friday morning, October 21, 2005, we welcomed them in the Library of the Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Center and had the special pleasure of being in their company. Questions were prepared for the two surviving daughters of Horney in advance by the audience, but once they started to talk, everyone sat back and took in the truly unforgettable event. Their talk was deeply touching, funny, informative and always very real. They prompted each other in recalling particular events and plainly savored each other's memories and insights into their mother's life. We saw their closeness and had the chance to hear their recollections of growing up and their experiences of their famous mother.

One person from the audience expressed compassion for them about their difficult childhood with their always busy mother. But the sisters responded in a matter of fact way, thanking the person for the comment but noting that they “turned out okay.” It was clear from their discussion that their experience of their famous mother was complex and not capable of being reduced to a superficial description.

Then, as part of our Dean's Rece