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Merton Max Gill died on 13 November 1994 at the age of 80. His first publication was in 1941 on malingering; his last book, more than fifty years later, was entitled Psychoanalysis in Transition. Between these he co-authored Diagnostic Psychological Testing with David Rappaport and Roy Schafer; wrote on hypnosis with Margaret Brennan, on the initial interview with Newman, Redlich and Somers, on metapsychology with Rappaport; discussed psychoanalysis and psychotherapy with Bob Wallerstein and others; discussed metapsychology with Phil Holzman, Bob Holt, George Klein and others; described strategies for systematic empirical research in psychoanalysis; wrote his seminal monographs on the analysis of the transference with Irwin Hoffman, and was a major voice in every important psychoanalytic dialogue in North America. In this commemorative volume Doris K. Silverman and David L. Wolitzky have collected and lovingly edited papers by fourteen of Gill's colleagues. Although Gill himself is not a contributor and the subject matter ranges quite broadly, Gill emerges vividly both personally and intellectually, and the book is far more coherent than are most edited volumes. The authors are often continuing dialogues with Gill that in some cases have been ongoing for decades, and his views emerge quite clearly as the objects of their disagreements.
Gill loved dialogue. He developed his ideas in argument with others. His voice was powerful—literally as well as metaphorically. (I recall him in the far corner of a large conference hall speaking without a microphone and remember thinking that anyone who sounded that much like Moses had an unfair advantage in debate.) He wrote long, carefully reasoned letters to his friends and would respond regularly to those who could maintain a discourse with him. His thoughts and his words had great impact on the profession. He also had unusual capacity to change his mind; often the clearest and most effective statements on both sides of a debate