Max M. Stern, M.D., who died on July 8, 1982, at the age of 87, has been honored by three separate memorial meetings. Benjamin B. Rubinstein, M.D., eulogized Dr. Stern on July 12th. Otto E. Sperling, M.D., delivered a tribute to him at the Psychoanalytic Association of New York meeting on October 18th. On October 30th, Dan C. Hertz, M.D., President of the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, presented a eulogy in Jerusalem.
His two profound commitments, to his science and to art, were emphasized. In addition to having been an actor, when a student, in classical drama and a lover of German lieder, he was an ardent collector of art, particularly German Expressionist paintings.
The depth and originality of Dr. Stern's scientific work were also praised. In his seventies, he began to work out a novel method of using taped analytic sessions as an analytic tool. He completed his book, The Teleonomic Aspect of Psychoanalysis, now ready for publication, just a month before his death. The culmination of his work on the role of biotrauma in psychoanalytic theory, the book integrates his published work of eighteen previous publications over the past thirty years.
Dr. Stern was a former President of the Psychoanalytic Association of New York and a Training Analyst Emeritus at the Division of Psychoanalytic Education of the Downstate Medical Center (now the Psychoanalytic Institute at New York University Medical Center). He was also active at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.