Judith Kestenberg (1910–1999)

The last twenty years of Judith Kestenberg's life coincided with my first twenty years as a psychoanalyst. During that time she became one of the most influential people in my life. Although she was 68 when I first met her, her energy, enthusiasm and vigour were so astounding that I quickly realised that I would have to run in order to keep up with her. Despite her diminutive stature (she was 4' 11”) she had a huge presence and a gift for inspiring colleagues and students throughout the world. She had an unwavering quest for intellectual truth and understanding, combined with a warmth, a tenderness and a playful twinkle in her eye whenever she delighted in the antics of a young child.

Her illustrious career as a child analyst who pioneered research in development and in the effects of psychic trauma began like many individuals of her generation, in Europe. Born in Cracow, Poland, and raised in Tarnow, she once described what influenced the direction of her life's work:

When Europe began to recuperate from the ravages of World War 1, a great number of children were orphaned and homeless. In my small home town … was an institution in which children of all ages grew up under the watchful eye of an authoritarian director. It was my mother who helped me realize that the infants and toddlers among them desperately needed a home like atmosphere. We both persuaded my generous father to create a small home for ten young children. My mother took me there often; while she discussed matters of policy with the nurses, I played with the babies (1975, p. xv).

This was from the preface of her now classic 1975 book, Children and Parents, p. xv. And Judy played with the babies for the rest of her life, integrating her extraordinary powers of observation with her formidable intellect and making enduring contributions spanning seven decades. When her declining health made it impossible for her to deny that she could not work any longer (for example we completed our book while she was stil