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It is painful to face the loss of a close, long-standing, loved and admired friend who has exerted such crucial influences on my personal and professional life over the past five decades. I am profoundly grateful to have known him and deeply saddened by his death.
In addition to my personal grief, it is a daunting task to attempt to express our collective mourning for what Robert Wallerstein has done for psychoanalysis, his achievements in the scientific, professional, institutional, and collegial life of the American and the International Psychoanalytic community. I do not believe I am exaggerating in stating that he was the single most important source of the awakening of the psychoanalytic profession to the crucial and urgent need to conduct empirical research in order that we remain relevant within the wider contemporary intellectual, academic and scientific community. He was an extraordinarily dynamic, enthusiastic, creative man; patient, yet stubborn, in fighting for progress in our field against daunting obstacles, and institutional biases. Bob's penetrating intellect made him especially well suited to the task of bringing people of all stripes together. His warmth and flexibility facilitated the reconciliation of seemingly incompatible viewpoints in which all parties felt heard and respected.
A few essential facts about his life: Born in Berlin in 1921, Robert Wallerstein emigrated with his family to New York City in 1923. He obtained his medical education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, followed by a residency in medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital of New York. It was before the completion of his residency that he changed course with a new interest in the exciting developments in psychiatry, and entered a residency at the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka,