Anne-Marie Sandler (1925–2018)

Those who knew Anne-Marie Sandler (1925–2018) will remember her character as well as her considerable achievements. She had a generosity of spirit, bore leadership roles with grace, was not self-promoting, and readily gave of her time, attention and support. She was a patient listener who took the time to understand a colleague’s clinical problem, point of view or political situation. She seemed to have inexhaustible energy and the time to take on any crisis or challenge.

Anne-Marie was a Training Analyst in adult, adolescent and child analysis and a Distinguished Fellow at the British Psychoanalytical Society (BPS). In 1998 she received the most prestigious award in psychoanalysis, the Mary Sigourney Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Psychoanalysis,” and in 2015 she received the European Psychoanalytical Federation (EPF) Award for “Distinguished Contributions to Psychoanalysis.”

In her early twenties Anne-Marie first exercised her interest in child development and different cultures as a research assistant to Piaget in her native Switzerland. This included working for UNESCO on a study of children’s developing notion of homeland and foreignness. Her paper published in 1975 reflects on Piaget’s work and its meaning for psychoanalysis.

Between 1950 and 1954 she trained as a child analyst at the Hampstead Child Psychotherapy Course and Clinic in London, and between 1965 and 1968 as a psychoanalyst at the British Psychoanalytical Society.

Anne-Marie was in demand throughout her life to lead groups and organisations. She served as President of the EPF from 1983 to 1987 (she took over the presidency from Daniel Widlöcher in Jerusalem). The EPF was created as a forum for the mutual scientific exchange of Europe’s psychoanalysts. During her presidency of the EPF, her aim of improving dialogue between the various European member societies was greatly facilitated by her fluency in German, French and English. She not only presented papers (i.e. Sandler 1987) and discussions i