The following is an excerpt from a letter dated February 10, 1989, to Bernard L. Pacella, Treasurer of the American:

Dear Bernie,

Recently, Helen [Fischer] and I spoke briefly by telephone about what the Association means to our members. Apart from our dedication to psychoanalysis, to the institutes that trained us, and to the local societies to which we belong and where our scientific and social life is centered, our growth could not have been possible, and our vitality could not have been sustained, without the American to monitor our increasingly complex life.

These professional advantages to membership are almost axiomatic. I want to speak of what membership in our association has meant to me personally. It has given us the opportunity to meet and make friends over our vast country and, through the International, to travel and establish friendships throughout practically the entire world. Though these friendships are, of course, limited by geographic considerations, the experiences and the memories remain sharp, heady, and intoxicating.

Our lives have been nourished by the American, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve our association. Two experiences especially are unforgettable: the chance to chair the Organizing Committee for our International meeting in New York in 1979 and my service for six years on the Membership Committee of the association some years ago. The excitement of the former is self-evident; the educational value of the latter is also obvious. What I carried away from the Membership Committee was the experience of evaluating applications from all over the country with colleagues from all over the country.

If anything in my professional experience has been important in confirming my choice of how to spend my time and life, the American is the answer.

Milton E. Jucovy