Arnold M. Cooper died on June 9, 2011, at the age of 88. He had been an emeritus professor and associate chairman for education in the Department of Psychiatry at Cornell University; a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; president of the American Psychoanalytic Association, vice-president of the International Psychoanalytical Association; deputy editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry; and North American editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.
Arnie was noted for his intellect, both its breadth and its depth. A psychoanalytic scholar, he was always open to new ideas, both at the core of the field and at its boundaries with other disciplines. His interests ranged from the psychodynamics of narcissism and masochism, the “burnout” of psychoanalysts, the role of pharmacotherapy in psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic studies of the humanities, to the epistemology of psychoanalysis. He was also a scholar in literature, music, and the arts.
He was a brilliant and beloved teacher—of undergraduates, medical students, psychiatric residents, psychoanalytic candidates, and colleagues. His former students from each of these groups maintained contact with him over the years and often attributed their enthusiasm and success in the field to his mentorship.
Arnie played a major role in developing psychiatric and psychoanalytic curricula, always emphasizing that he was an educator, facilitating the development and creativity of his students, rather than a trainer, teaching them what he already knew. The result was that he educated many of our finest educators.
He was a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association for 50 years. He served on the Committees on Indexing, Public Information, New Training Facilities, and Government Relations; he chaired the Program Committee, the Committee on Latin American Colleagues, and the Committee on University and Medical Education. He was a Fellow of the Board on Professional Standards and, from 1980-82, president. He recognized the importance of professional organizations, and during his presidency initiated the process of reorganizing the structure of the Association to recognize the appropriate role of the members in its governance, a process that continues to this day.
He is survived, and missed, by his wife, Katherine Addleman, his children Andrew Cooper, Melissa Cooper Hamburger, and Tom Van Cooper, three grandchildren, grateful patients, students, and grieving colleagues.
Robert Michels, M.D., is University Professor at Cornell University, where he was chair of the Department of Psychiatry and dean of the Medical College. He is training and supervising analyst at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.