THE PASSING OF DR. MICHAEL FRANZ BASCH

January 26, 1996

The art of psychotherapy has lost one of its champions with the recent death of Dr. Michael Basch. He was a man of great learning and depth of insight, whose contributions to the theory and practice of psychotherapy are unsurpassed in his generation. His legacy continues in the daily work of thousands of practioners who learned their craft from his clear, practical and deceptively simple books on the subject. I knew Mike through his participation in the Cape Cod Institute in which he taught regularly over the past fifteen years. He gave me the honor of allowing me to collaborate in the planning of each of his courses and acknowledged my very small contributions often and in the most generous ways.

The student response to each of his summer courses followed a predictable pattern. On Monday there was a bit of restlessness as people adapted to his plain, unpretentious and subdued style; and as he struggled privately to read the mood and level of his audience and properly calibrate his presentation. By the close of Tuesday's session a clear connection had been made and by Friday nearly all who attended had reached the realization that they were leaving the Institute enriched in knowledge and skill geometrically out of proportion to the duration of their brief encounter with this warm and remarkable man.

Michael Basch touched people through his acutely honed ability to listen carefully and to express himself with laser-like, yet gentle, clarity, telling it like it is without adding or subtracting anything. He was almost completely unfamiliar with computers and online communication. One of his favorite anecdotes concerned an anatomy professor who taught him to how study by making outlines on shirt cardboards. Yet he expressed interest when I attempted to lure him into these waters: interest, together with the sentiment that he just didn't have the time. And as usual, he was right, most sadly. This gifted, gentle and generous man who went out of his way not to create impression has left a deep impression on all of us and on the history of the art of psychotherapy. He will be missed, deeply.

The Editor