When I was asked to write about my friend Dick Fox for TAP, I recalled the APsaA listserv postings that captured some of his many aspects of leadership and friendship. I decided to begin this memorial with part or all of each of those postings and end by saying a few things about my own personal experience with him. I have already shared what the writers say in these postings with Dick's widow, Ruth, and obtained her permission to reprint.
It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Richard P. Fox, president of this Association, 2000-2002. Dick was a close personal friend, as well as an honored colleague. Despite having some health issues when he was running for office, with great courage Dick served his term with distinction and devotion to APsaA. He felt strongly that psychotherapists should be included in our Association, and served as the head of that division for a number of years following his presidency. On a personal note, he became very interested in racehorses and owned several. Everything Dick did was accompanied by his characteristic warmth and charm. He will be sorely missed, especially by those who knew him.
I would like to add my personal words to those of Dr Pyles. When our department was still a task force, Dick Fox had the idea about our becoming a division, then a department. We were the gleam in his eye.
Dr Fox was quietly humble about his contributions, his political acumen and his brilliance. He was indeed passionate about the importance of psychotherapy and psychotherapists—about our place within psychoanalytic organizations, about substantive and meaningful inclusion. It was Dick Fox who asked me, a PA who by definition is not a full member, to chair the new APsaA Psychotherapy Department with him. And it was the trust and leadership of Prudy Gourguechon and Warren Procci who approved this new idea of an associate co-chairing a department in the American Psychoanalytic Association. This is but one bit of evidence of Dick's strong feeling about inclusion of psychotherapists in the Association.
Like others who knew Dick personally, I too will sorely miss him. He was a cherished mentor and he was a friend. I am grateful for his presence with us and for the good fortune of having come to know him. It is with great sorrow that all of us mourn his loss.
I want to add my voice of sadness on hearing about the death of Dick. I worked very closely with him, especially during his presidency. Not only was he wise, conciliatory and impeccably honest, he was truly a nice man.
Sympathies to Ruth and the family. He will be sorely missed.
It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of my friend and colleague, Dick Fox. He was APsaA president when I was elected BOPS chair A wise gentleman, he and I could bridge differences of opinion and solve problems together Already suffering from health problems, he diligently did his job with dignity and competence.
My condolences to Ruth. I will miss Dick greatly.
I was very saddened to learn that Dick Fox had passed away and wanted to add my memories of Dick to the thoughts expressed by others. Many of you may not have known him; those who did may not know of his extraordinary contributions to APsaA and our field. This is because he was an unusually modest man who always worked towards the goals he believed in rather than his own prominence, recognition or power Dick was a tremendously generative leader who was always looking to support and encourage the next generation. He was particularly encouraging of women in leadership positions within APsaA. I was immensely grateful that he appointed me as editor of TAP, giving me the opportunity to serve and learn about our organization that was essential to my developing the confidence to later take on leadership roles.
In some ways, like Jimmy Carter, Dick's most remarkable contributions occurred after his presidency. But typically, they were accomplished without any fanfare or self-aggrandizement. Dick passionately fought for the inclusion of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in our organizational consciousness. He had the vision to understand that our future lay with stepping out of the narrow psychoanalytic temple and embracing the many applications and uses of psychoanalytic theory, most prominently psychoanalytic psychotherapy. He patiently and steadfastly built and nurtured APsaA's psychotherapy department and its cadre of leaders.
He always had a smile and warm words for me and so many others.
He will be deeply missed.
Allan Compton, M.D., a training and supervising analyst, is clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA and founder and president of the Los Angeles Center for Psychoanalytic Research.
I was saddened to hear about his death, and I think his memory is an important part of APsaA. Since language and symbolic thought make history possible, it is important to say and remember the words. All who knew him will recall his cherubic countenance, his infectious laugh, and his ability to bring a needed levity to meetings that were at risk of losing a sense of humor At the same time, he had a vision that he championed for the expansion of APsaA and psychoanalytic thinking.
Many will miss him.
[The first part of Jon's posting is a tribute to Paul Dewald, to whom he alludes below.]
The passing of Dick Fox marked another great loss. In addition to what has already been said on this list, I might add a couple of things. He never wrote a great deal but you wanted him to read and critique your drafts because he knew psychoanalysis and its literature. He was also noted for encouraging the graduates of the LA institute to get certified. He considered certification a valuable, progressive step in the education of a psychoanalyst. It meant that the new analyst had to rethink his/her work, prepare it for review in the larger context of practice as a graduate rather than as a candidate, and present it to a senior, experienced colleague who is outside what can be the sheltering and/or stifling confines of a local institute. What he stood for was our obligation to help in the development of “truly” accomplished analysts. He lost the first time he ran for president, but I am grateful he ran again.
Having performed a sad task borne out of friendship, however belated in one instance, I will privately observe a moment of silence in memory of two good men. Join me for just a moment if you wish.
Dick Fox and I were friends. We worked together when he was director of education for the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (LAPSI) and I was assistant director Together we implemented something from his early days in Cincinnati, called “The Institute Analysis Conference,” a structure that required every candidate and his/her supervisor to present every prospective control case to a group of graduate analysts who were interested in selection of cases before starting analytic work. All who chose to comment were welcome to do so, but the group had no authority over whether or not the patient was taken into analysis. That structural instrument has changed a good deal over the years but has held to its initial charge of peer commentary. It has in important ways been a measure of the de-authoritarianization of psychoanalytic education.
Dick lived 75 miles south of Los Angeles. As a usual practice he made that 150-mile round trip to teach or provide leadership to LAPSI meetings and committees at least twice a week during the educational year That is not an exaggeration.
We went fishing together in the Sea of Cortez off Baja, California. We walked miles on his local beach, not far from his home. We went to see his horse run at races. Miriam and I dined with Dick and Ruth and colleagues and friends every St. Patrick's day for years.
I share the feelings, both admiring and friendly, of the colleagues whose postings are quoted above. I trust that Ruth and their children will remain our friends for many years.