Otto Fenichel—December 2, 1897–january 22, 1946

In the sudden and untimely death of Otto Fenichel on January 22, 1946, in Los Angeles, psychoanalysis loses one of its foremost leaders and teachers. It is a shocking loss to his family and to all of us who are his friends, and an irreparable loss to the science of psychoanalysis.

Otto Fenichel was born in Vienna on December 2, 1897. From his early years as a student he was deeply interested in the biological and psychological aspects of sexology. He was a member of a small group of young men—among whom were several future analysts—who studied and discussed these problems. At the age of seventeen he was planning to become a psychoanalyst. While studying medicine in Vienna he started his training with the Psychoanalytic Society there. In 1922 he continued his studies at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute. Soon after his arrival in Berlin his exceptional interest in and knowledge of psychoanalysis and allied fields made him one of the most promising students that the Berlin Institute ever had. He richly fulfilled this early promise. He was respected and admired by his teachers, his colleagues, and by the patients and students in training whom he analyzed. His ability to clarify complex subject matter and to communicate his knowledge soon led him to organize a 'Children's Seminar'. This was a study group for younger analysts, who discussed among themselves clinical and theoretical problems of psychoanalysis—free of the inhibitions they would have felt in discussing them in meetings with older members. In 1923 he became an Assistant at the Berlin Clinic, and several years later a training analyst.

In 1933 Dr. Fenichel was invited by Norweigan analysts to take charge of the teaching of analysis in Oslo, and he remained in Norway until 1935. From there he went to Czechoslovakia, where again he assumed the task of teaching, organizing and