John D. Benjamin—1901-1965

John Davidson Benjamin was born on December 6, 1901 in New York City, and died in Denver on May 14, 1965. His death came at a time when for two years the ill health which had interfered with his life and plans since his late teens had finally been conquered.

Ill health had interrupted his studies at Harvard in 1921. He did not obtain his medical degree until 1933, at the University of Zurich. Medicine had not been his first choice of profession, which was music, for which he was exceptionally gifted and for which he had been well educated in New York and Vienna. He began the study of medicine in Switzerland, where he also began his psychoanalytic training with the late Emil Oberholzer.

The professional atmosphere of Zurich was most congenial to him, particularly the psychiatric activities, and many interests that were to become habitual to him originated there. It was natural that he should have become especially interested in the problems of schizophrenia and in various newer psychological ideas and methods. Emil Oberholzer was world famous as an authority on the Rorschach test, a student and fellow-worker of its inventor, and John Benjamin came to master this ingenious and fruitful method.

Returning to the United States for reasons of health and professional opportunity, he went to Denver in 1935, where he joined the staff of the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital as a volunteer research associate. This date marked the beginning of his great services in teaching and research. Proximity to the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago permitted him to continue his psychoanalytic education. With many interruptions, he maintained his relationship with the University of Colorado until his death. Until 1938, he was head of the outpatient department of the hospital. From 1947, he was psychiatrist-in-charge of long-term evaluations of human growth and development.

Recognition came to him from many sources. He was appointed consultant to the National Institute of Mental