Bob Emde Remembered

Robert N. Emde, MD

Bob Emde, one of the most brilliant, compassionate and beloved figures in the field of infant mental health, has died.  Bob was one of the pioneers in the field and was instrumental in establishing the World Association for Infant Psychiatry in 1980 and in the establishment of the new interdisciplinary World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH).  Bob was greatly influenced by his mentor René Spitz, who pioneered the study of the emotional life of infants, as a psychoanalyst.  His scientific career focused on the organization of human emotions in the early years of postnatal life, the psychobiological behaviors regulating the organization of parent- infant relationships, and the impact of emotions on individual and family life.  He was guided by Berry Brazelton’s thinking on the social capacities of the newborn and his work linking parental and infant signal systems and their impact on the organization of behavior during the first years of life, has had a profound impact on our understanding the importance of the organization of brain-behavior relationships early in human life. 

All of us who were privileged to know Bob knew him as extraordinarily brilliant, wise, generative, generous-spirited and kind – truly, “one of nature's gentlemen”.  WAIMH President, Campbell Paul, paying tribute to Bob writes that “Bob certainly had a major impact on my life.  As a founding member of the Board of WAIMH, Bob contributed a huge amount over many years to WAIMH, Zero to Three, the IPA, Society for Research in Child Development and many other groups and organisations, and most importantly the individuals who comprise them. Bob was a passionate investigator right from his first engagement in research as a medical student in Denver. Bob was especially passionate about mentoring, supporting others to pursue their own curiosity about what makes we humans, who we are. Always in collaboration with others he had some very innovative ideas translated into clinical applications, such as the Story Stem, the I Feel Pictures tool and many others. He was a founder of the Research Training Program of the IPA, and I was privileged to have him as an advisor during my participation in the program in London. Bob was a wonderful, kind, and generous man and will be missed very much by all those from the fields of infant mental health and psychoanalysis”.  (Read Campbell’s tribute to Bob Emde on the WAIMH website)

These sentiments by Campbell echo the words of Bob’s long-time colleague and friend, Hiram Fitzgerald, who, when Bob was awarded the title of Honorary President of the World Association for Infant Mental Health in 2007, wrote, “All of his scientific, clinical, and policy work provide only an outer view of Bob Emde in his various professional roles. The inner view provides deeper insight into Bob’s humanity, his compassion, zest for life, wonderful sense of humor, exuberance, dedication to family, creative expression, and a generous dash of boyish devilment!”  (Read Hiram Fitzgerald’s tribute in full in WAIMH Perspectives).  I had the privilege of interviewing Bob for the WAIMH History Project and while I was enthralled by his personal journey and stunned at the sheer range of his contributions to all fields of healthcare, I was deeply impressed by his modesty.  His intellectual contributions were matched only by his deep humanity and generosity of spirit, reflected in the extraordinary influence he has had as a generative mentor on the lives of young investigators worldwide.  Bob was the living exemplar of benevolent mentoring.  On hearing the news of Bob’s passing, Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern, wrote, “Sharing ideas and values makes for wonderful friendships, we are lucky we have/had it with this exceptional human being, so that we can carry it further with younger ones”. 

We end with Bob’s own words, quoted by David Oppenheim in his tribute to Bob at the World Association for Infant Mental Health meeting in Brisbane in June, “We all get all our deep pleasures from helping others, I certainly do….most often related to experiences of helplessness growing up and we want to help others from that……. that also puts us in a frame of needing to help each other”.  Finally, we quote the words of the great Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, who wrote:

“Think where man's glory most begins and ends, And say my glory was I had such friends”.

J. Kevin Nugent

Translations of Yeats’ poem above:

pensa dove inizia e finisce la gloria dell'uomo, e di' che la mia gloria era che avevo amici così.

فكر في المكان الذي يبدأ فيه مجد الإنسان وينتهي ، وقول أن مجدي كان لدي مثل هؤلاء الأصدقاء.

Überlegen Sie, wo die Herrlichkeit des Menschen am meisten beginnt und endet, und sagen Sie, meine Herrlichkeit war, dass ich solche Freunde hatte.

piense dónde comienza y termina la gloria del hombre, y diga que mi gloria fue que tuve tales amigos.

pense au début et à la fin de la gloire de l'homme, et dis que ma gloire était d'avoir de tels amis.

सोचिये कि मनुष्य की महिमा सबसे अधिक कहाँ से शुरू होती है और समाप्त होती है, और कहो कि मेरी महिमा थी, मेरे ऐसे मित्र थे।

pense onde a glória do homem mais começa e termina, e diga que minha glória foi porque eu tinha esses amigos. 

תחשוב איפה הכבוד של האדם מתחיל ונגמר הכי הרבה, ותגיד שהתהילה שלי הייתה שיש לי חברים כאלה.

tenk hvor menneskets herlighet begynner og slutter mest, og si at min herlighet var at jeg hadde slike venner.