In the space of a few days in May, 1970, psychoanalysis lost two of its outstanding leaders. Dr. Heinz Hartmann died on May 17, at the age of 75; three days later, on May 20, came the death of Dr. Herman Nunberg, who was 86.

The deaths of these distinguished psychoanalysts, both of whom had once been members of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and had worked closely with Freud, were widely mourned. The psychoanalytic community in New York, where both men had lived, worked, and taught, was particularly shaken.