Eero Rechardt: 1926 - 2012

Eero Rechardt, PhD, MD, passed away following a prolonged illness on 30 April 2012, at the age of 85 years.

Rechardt was born in Kajaani, Northern Finland on 11 November 1926. He grew up in Sodankylä, Lappland, where his father worked as a regional forester. He attended secondary school in Helsinki.

During the war, Rechardt served in the anti-aircraft defense that was very important for defense efforts. He graduated as a student in 1945 and as an MD at Helsinki University in 1953. Having worked for a short period in the municipal health care services, Rechardt was among the founders of a psychotherapeutic nursing home in Hvitträsk near Helsinki. He worked there during the years 1955-57.

In the fifties, it was not possible to undergo psychoanalytic training in Finland, and Rechardt was among the pioneers who acquired this training abroad, in Sweden and in Switzerland. He left with his family for Stockholm in 1957. In addition to his psychoanalytic training, he worked in psychiatry, child psychiatry and in an addiction clinic. He returned to Helsinki in 1960. Following that, he specialized in psychiatry at Helsinki University Central Hospital, graduating in 1963, and continued working there as an associate clinical head during 1968-1972. He wrote his dissertation on the psychosomatic aspects of Prurigo Besnier (atopic skin disease). He was nominated as a ‘docent’ in 1972. Following that, Rechardt was a psychoanalyst in private practice until his retirement.

Eero Rechardt was exceptionally hardworking. He was very dedicated to his profession and made his life's work in the field of psychoanalysis. In addition to his extensive clinical work, he was active in the community at large. This last-mentioned work in the public sector can be divided into three parts: work in different organizations, work as a teacher and scientific work.

Rechardt was influential and active in psychoanalytical organizations both in Finland and internationally. He was elected president of the Finnish