A Memorial and Contribution to the Legacy of Bill Meyer

William (“Bill”) Meyer, whose outstanding contributions to psychoanalysis and clinical social work are honored in this Special Issue of Psychoanalytic Social Work, possessed that rare combination of natural talent and ability, empathic generosity, deep self-understanding, and clinical wisdom. Bill’s influence was felt in many ways, enriching the lives of patients, students, and colleagues alike. In addition to his private practice, Bill had a long professional association with Duke University, where he practiced in Duke’s High-Risk Obstetrics Clinic. He mentored, taught, and supervised social work interns, as well as residents in obstetrics and psychiatry. He was often immersed in the most challenging cases of women suffering from postpartum depression, others who struggled with the sequelae of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and still others recovering from traumata associated with miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Bill’s patience, his comforting calm, and his deep capacity for empathy were among the greatest of gifts he brought to both his clinical work and his teaching. These attributes earned him the love and admiration of so many whose lives he touched.

Among the professional activities Bill loved the most was writing. As Barbara Berger has observed, “Whenever I visited with him, he would ask me, ‘So, what are you writing now?’ And then he would encourage me to write more or describe what he was writing. Conversations about our professional journals, about our colleagues who write and teach, and about work we would do together were lively, intellectual, and full of joyful enthusiasm.” Bill was a gifted and prolific writer, who made enduring contributions to the leading clinical journals in our field. He published on a variety of topics and themes, including though hardly limited to the following: the clinical “holding environment”; the value of a psychodynamic perspective in work with traditional social work populations; the training and sup