KARL JASPERS FORUM
Short Note 89
[ The following notice was posted in
‘Dialogues’ - HFJM ]
MIKE ARONS
by Steven Hendlin,
Ph.D. (Psychology)
19 February 2008, posted 23
February 2008
I'm very sorry to hear of Mike Arons' death. He indeed will be missed. I considered him a
friend and colleague. I knew Mike since the early seventies, meeting at
conventions put on by the Association for Humanistic Psychology. He knew many
of the pioneers of humanistic psychology, worked with Abe Maslow at Brandeis Univ.,
and was respected for his many contributions to humanistic and transpersonal
psychology.
Mike and I had many in-depth dialogues on various
topics over the last five years on the Div 32 listserv. I always found him to
be a tenacious, fair, and open-minded thinker.We
presented on at least three APA panels together, the last one being in Hawaii.
I last spoke to him by phone a few months ago. He openly discussed his cancer
with me--but was able to do it from a humorous perspective. I thanked him for
his very complimentary reference letter on my behalf when I was applying for
Fellow status in APA through Division 42. I thought highly enough of Mike to
want to include him in the handful of people I asked for reference letters,
even though the rules stated that letters were to come from Fellows and Mike
never cared to go through the process. But he knew me and my work over 25 years
and I wanted him to be one of those who wrote a letter for me and whose name I
knew was respected.
Mike was a part of the Division
32 leadership for many years and, as Past President, participated during the presidency
tenure of Mark Stern, when I was Mark's program chair, in 1991. A group of us,
including Mike and Mark, had a memorable Chinese dinner in Chinatown. And we
sat together in many meetings, hashing out many issues related to the
division 32 at Board of Directors
meetings.
Mike put the humanistic
psychology program on the map in Georgia, and made trips to Russia to help
bring humanistic and transpersonal psychology to Russian psychologists and
students. And he began doing Philo groups at APA conventions, which he had learned in France. He
loved to travel, loved to laugh. He was an interesting man, who persued the truth and who knew how to listen.
Rest in Peace, Mike. And thank
you so much for what you offered me along the way.
Steven Hendlin,
Ph.D.
Fellow, APA