MATTI BRUMMER (1943 – 2019) OBITUARY

Matti Brummer, our colleague and dear friend, passed away on Wednesday 25th of September in 2019. Even though he had been struggling with health problems, such a sudden passing still came as a surprise. We would have wished for him to live beyond his 76 years, but we are comforted by the fact that Matti passed peacefully at home in the presence of his wife Kaarina. Matti had wisely enough already given up his clinical work but still consulted from time to time.

Matti completed his BA of Theology in 1967. He became MD in 1979 and specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry 1986. During the 1990s Matti was keen to pursue his interest for psychoanalysis. In 1990 he completed his training as a psychoanalyst, and as a child and adolescent psychoanalyst in 1993. Matti became a training psychotherapist in 1999 and a training psychoanalyst in 2002. Matti started his own practice as a psychoanalyst in Oulu, but later moved to and continued working in Helsinki. Matti was exceptionally productive. He was an active member of the Finnish Psychoanalytical Society. He was a member of the Board, also a member of the Training Institute, the Training Committee and Council of Ethics. For very many candidates Matti was an analyst, a supervisor and a seminar teacher.

Particularly remarkable was Matti’s contribution to improving and developing child and adolescent psychoanalysis. After graduating as a child and adolescent psychoanalyst himself, he played a key part in training the next generation of child and adolescent psychoanalysis. Matti also expanded the outreach of psychoanalysis by introducing the psychoanalytic aspect to medicine students and doctors in training in the Pediatric Psychiatric Hospital. Through Matti’s work in the Pediatric Psychiatric Hospital many of the psychoanalytic candidates gained their child and adolescent patients.

Matti was truly a psychoanalytic soul and it’s no exaggeration to say that Matti played a key role in saving and improving the position of chil