15/08/2022
Ήρθαν τα άσχημα νέα για το θάνατο του οργονομιστή Richard Scwartzman που μας γέμισαν με θλίψη και νοσταλγία.
Ακολουθεί το κείμενο που έγραψε η κόρη του Rebecca Wald και περιγράφει τη διαδρομή του και τη συνεισφορά του στο έργο του Βίλχελμ Ράιχ. Ένας ακόμα μεγάλος της οργονομίας έφυγε..
It is with a heavy heart that I share news of the passing of my dear father Richard Schwartzman. Richard passed away peacefully, the consequence of natural causes, on July 20, 2022. He was 83. He is survived by an immediate family that includes myself, my husband, our three children and my mother.
Like his mother, Beatrice, Richard was an optimist who always saw his cup in life as half full. He felt extremely fortunate throughout his life, pointing out on the occasion of his 83rd birthday that he had enjoyed good health until old age had recently taken its toll. He expressed how very lucky he was to have had meaningful work that he was able to enjoy for so many years. (He practiced medicine until age 80.) In addition to his work, he was made extremely happy and proud by his immediate family, who were all very close to him.
Richard’s message was to enjoy life whenever possible, often encouraging his family to have more fun. He very much liked Goethe’s quote: “Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.” He had an incredibly generous spirit and gave everything he had to his family.
Richard was full of energy and full of love for his family and his work. He engaged in many endeavors throughout his life in an attempt to get the word out about the effective and unique therapy pioneered by Wilhelm Reich, which Richard practiced for 50 years. He was trained first by Morton Herskowitz and then by Elsworth Baker, both of whom were trained by Reich. Richard was involved with several organizations dedicated to keeping Reich’s work alive. He trained many therapists (not just in the U.S. but also in Greece, Rome, and Germany); he wrote many articles; he produced a film about Reich’s therapy called Room for Happiness; he was an early blogger, and he lectured on many topics related to Reich’s work — all in the hope that one day the world would come to embrace Reich’s therapeutic approach.
As a follower of Wilhelm Reich, Richard felt that infant and early childhood emotional traumas were largely responsible for the human condition, saying that “everything is front-loaded” with the first days of life being among the most impactful in terms of lifelong emotional health. It was for this reason that he wrote and spoke against infant circumcision, a preventable childhood trauma. As founding board member emeritus, he also played an important role in the founding of Bruchim, a non-profit that supports non-circumcising Jewish families. Richard was delighted by Bruchim and always enjoyed hearing the latest Bruchim news, frequently sharing insights with me that have helped to shape the direction of the organization. Bruchim will be a lesser organization for his absence.
Richard hoped that people interested in protecting children from early trauma might come to rediscover Reich’s larger body of work by actually reading Reich’s books (versus articles and books about Reich which Dad found to be almost always inaccurate and disparaging).
Please feel free to forward this notice to those in your circle who knew Richard. If you would like to share thoughts or memories of Richard with his family, you may write back to this email. Memorial contributions may be made to Bruchim or the charity of your choice.
With Sadness,
Rebecca Wald
