In Memoriam Alastair William MacLeod 1916–2004

Born in Vancouver, Alastair William MacLeod received his medical training in Glasgow and his psychoanalytic training in London. Returning to Canada in 1951 as assistant director (later director) of the Mental Hygiene Institute, Alastair became the first president of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society (1952–54) and had a major part in writing our Constitution and By-Laws and in the delicate negotiations with the Americans, the British, and the International Psychoanalytic Association, which resulted in our becoming a component society of the ipa in 1957.

Alastair served for many years on our National Executive, being president of the cps-qe (1971–73) and director of the qe Institute from 1973 to 1979. He analyzed and supervised many of our members.

As an author, Alastair wrote Recidivism: A Deficiency Disease ( University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965) and co-authored the introductory chapter in Recent Developments in Psychosomatic Medicine (E. D. Wittkower & R. A. Cleghorn, Eds., Lippincott, 1954) and wrote a couple of papers.

He enjoyed anglicizing first names—Miguel Prados became Mike and Jean-Baptiste Boulanger became John.

Well-versed in the classics, he was in every sense a gentleman and a scholar, a warm human being behind a reserved exterior, and a pleasure to work with. He is survived by his wife, Isobel, a former director of nursing at the Montreal General Hospital.

Né à Vancouver, Alastair William MacLeod a fait ses études de médecine à Glasgow et suivi sa formation psychanalytique à Londres. À son retour au Canada en 1951, Alastair a assumé les fonctions de directeur adjoint, puis de directeur, du Mental Hygiene Institute. C'est à cette époque qu'il est devenu le premier président de la Société canadienne de psychanalyse (1952–1954) et qu'il a joué un rôle prépondérant dans la rédaction de notre constitution et de nos statuts, de même que dans les délicates négociations avec les Américains, les Britanniques et l'Association