Obituary: Adam Limentani 1913 - 1994

Adam Limentani, MD, Rome, died on Friday 9 September 1994 after a long illness. However, it was a sudden death, as he had recently recovered from an operation which had dealt satisfactorily with an ongoing problem. His wife Denise was told that he could return home after the weekend and though it was a terrible shock to her, his family and his friends, she felt that there was a consolation in that he did not have to live longer to face further suffering and that he died at a time when he was happy and free from pain. He had a distinguished career. President of the British Psycho-Analytical Society (1974-1977) and President of the IPA (1983-1986).

Adam came from a well established Roman non-orthodox Jewish family who eschewed ritual. He always affirmed his Jewish identity without being chauvinistic about it. From an early age he showed superior abilities. He was one of ten from three hundred applicants to become a student intern in the Rome Teaching Medical Clinic. However, this gain was short-lived because on 5 July 1938, after taking a special competitive examination to gain an appointment at the University Psychiatric Clinic, he emerged to learn from the newspapers that Italians had become an Aryan race: with that he lost the position of Clinical Assistant at the Medical Clinic as well as at the Neuro-Psychiatric Clinic (where he worked under Cerletti who introduced Electro-Convulsive Therapy!). Shortly after this he was stopped in the street by a policeman who asked him to show his papers in order to identify himself. ‘But’ he protested ‘You know me’, since they had been friendly at school. ‘That was yesterday’ replied the policeman.

The final event which indicated to him that he should leave Italy related to his having written his first thesis on medical hydrology in Italy in 1937. Having had a tutor, the rule was that the thesis would be published with one's tutor. The tutor came to Adam after the racial laws had been declared and asked him if he minded very much