In Memoriam: Leonard M. Horowitz
Ken Locke, Daniel Leising, Fabian Ramseyer, and Lumina Albert
Brief Biography
Len Horowitz was the co-founder and inaugural President of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research. An invaluable presence at almost every SITAR meeting, Len was awarded our Society’s first lifetime achievement award in 2014. Len also served as President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and was awarded that society’s Distinguished Career Award in 2010.
In 1960 Len joined the faculty of Stanford University’s Psychology Department, where he remained throughout his career. Beginning in the 1970s, Len focused on applying his early training and experience in measurement, psycholinguistics, and experimental methodology to elucidating psychological disorders as well as interpersonal and psychotherapeutic dynamics. Len’s many achievements include: developing the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, a measure of recurring difficulties that people may experience in their everyday interpersonal encounters and relationships; formalizing methods for generating reliable psychodynamic case formulations; and demonstrating the centrality of agency and communion for understanding how interactions can become mutually frustrating and thus how to avoid such outcomes. In his writings and his professional outreach and service, Len endeavored to connect his empirical work both to broad theoretical concerns and to the everyday challenges of practicing diagnosticians and psychotherapists.
Len Horowitz died on November 11, 2019.
Further Reading:
Ken Locke’s Memories
My sister recently discovered that our late mother had saved many of the letters we had sent her over the years. In one letter from me—dated April 21, 1985, when I was a 21-year-old first-year graduate student in cognitive psychology—I wrote the following: “I’m not sure if I mentioned my abnormal psychology class in my last letter. I find it fascinating. The professor, Len Horowitz, focuses on the interpersonal origins of abnormal behavior. That is, how certain definable patterns of interaction can cause and maintain abnormal behavior. I find this an interesting approach because it is so divergent from my way of thinking. I tend to posit intrapersonal causes for everything. That is why cognitive psychology seemed so natural to me. Regardless of how relevant an interpersonal approach is to the various forms of abnormal behavior, when I try to apply the theories (of what patterns of interaction are more stable and more likely to develop) to everyday life, they work! It is amazing how learning some theory can open your eyes…”. Reading this I felt chagrined that I subjected my dear mother to such pedantic prating, yet simultaneously delighted to realize how within weeks of joining Len’s course I was already enchanted with interpersonal theory and with Len himself.
In that course Len introduced topics the way a playwright sets a scene and introduces dramatis personae. I can picture him, turning to his right and gesturing with both hands, saying something like “Let us imagine Person A is vulnerable to feeling distressed when others seem ignore or dismiss him”. Then, turning to his left and again gesturing with both hands, “Imagine Person B, his roommate, is preoccupied with work and wants to avoid a long conversation…” Having conjured in our minds an uncluttered yet evocative “prototype” of some individual or interaction, Len would then invite us to join him in considering that person or interaction from the perspective of specific models or studies or instruments.
I not only found the material “fascinating”, but also found Len charming. Unlike certain notorious members of Stanford’s faculty during that time, Len seemed utterly uninterested in competing or showing off or winning devotees. What Len could contribute to any conversation was invariably keener and wiser than anything we students could; nevertheless, when we spoke up, he always listened attentively and respectfully and responded kindly and thoughtfully. One year after completing Len’s “abnormal psychology” course, I formally asked to switch subfields and asked Len to be my major professor; and, fortunately for me, he agreed. Once again, Len, thank you.
Daniel Leising’s Memories
In 2005, I was at a turning-point in my life. Academic psychology became more and more and frustrating to me and began to look like a dead end. When I asked myself whether there were any dreams that I had left, I realized that there actually was one: I wanted to go to Stanford University and work with this one professor that I had met at conferences a few times - Len Horowitz. Why Len? Well, Len seemed to incorporate something very rare: A fondness for psychodynamic thinking and therapy, coupled with amazing intellectual capacity and ambition. Len had a solid background in experimental psychology, yet he used that grounding in his thinking and talking about something that experimental psychology seemed to have largely given up on: psychodynamics, which one could tell was very close to his heart. Len knew how profoundly psychodynamic therapy may change people's lives for the better. So, imagine the thrill it gave me when I was finally awarded a scholarship to go to Stanford and work with Len for a year.
That year in California was a life-changing experience in many ways for my family and me, but I won't talk about that here. What I will talk about is how much of a positive example to live by Len provided me with. Len very much valued the gifts, ambitions, and ideals of younger people in particular. It seemed to give him genuine joy to be able to support fledgling young academics like me. When we were not talking about research, we had remarkably open and personal conversations about all sorts of things, ranging from the silly (e.g., Len's "nom de café": Andrew - an alias that Len used at Starbucks because the baristas always misheard his actual name) to the dead-serious (e.g., the emotional heritage resulting from Germany's nazi past). Len was also a perfectionist. To be honest, to sit next to him in front of his monitor and watch him obsess over individual sentences in a manuscript he was writing drove me crazy at first. I simply couldn't understand how in the world the wording of a single sentence in a paper comprising hundreds of sentences may be that important. In the meantime, I have come to understand: That was Len's way of thinking carefully about what he actually wanted to say to his readers. If you take your writing seriously, figuring that out does take a lot of effort, focus, time, revising and revisiting - much more than many people are willing or able to invest. Thank you for teaching me that, Len, and for everything else. We will miss you.
Fabian Ramseyer’s Memories
At my first international meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) in 2005, I first talked with Len about the interpersonal aspects of the research on nonverbal behavior I was conducting at the time. His genuine interest and sharp comments immediately caught my interest. When I then approached Len at a later (2009) SPR meeting, I was amazed by the amount of time and thought he gave to my interest in spending a year as a post-doc under his supervision. A year later, when the plans for this post-doc were already well advanced, SPR met in California, and after the conference, Len helped me plan my stay which took place later that year. With this warm support of his, I got the first very practical impression of his wonderful generosity and dedication to helping other people. During my stay, Len bequeathed me with numerous gifts, and one very precious of these was his presence in personal exchanges: Len offered me so much time and possibilities for scientific and further intellectual exchange, and I am still very much nurtured from the many discussions he shared with me. Thanks to Len’s active scientific pursuit, these exchanges could be regularly taken up over the following years in meetings at conferences or in other forms of exchange.
Both Len and his wife Sue also made a lasting impression on my extended family, who were generously made to feel at home at their residence. Their natural talent to warmly connect to my family was simply great.
The way Len treated other persons, and his general approach to many different aspects of academic as well as personal life, made a lasting impression on me: Len had such a benevolent way of dealing with other people, but this kindness was not clouded by any vagueness. To the contrary, Len always had a very distinguished and clear opinion of his own, but he managed to stay true to his philosophies and at the same time create an atmosphere that opened up many interpersonal possibilities. I look back at the many things Len generously shared with me, and the subtle things I was able to witness in his presence, and I know that I will keep aspiring to this ability.
Lumina Albert’s Memories
Len is undoubtedly the one single person that completely transformed the trajectory of my life. Living at Stanford was not easy – yes, it was a beautiful place but it could also be a destructive and aggressive environment. Reflecting back on those days, I know I survived the environment only because of the refreshing and warm presence of Len in my life as an advisor and mentor. He would meet with me every week for an hour on Tuesday afternoons. Most of those meeting times were spent discussing research topics on interpersonal relationships or involved his giving me kind and wise counsel on life choices and decision. When I was working on my first journal publication, I sought his help with edits. He kindly volunteered to help bring it to a publishable state. He read and re-read the paper for countless hours suggesting edits and explaining why those edits made sense. I was deeply touched by his actions: Here was this incredibly busy and amazingly accomplished Stanford professor, investing in me and empowering me to become a better writer and researcher. Not once did I see any signs of impatience or irritation although he was giving so much to me with no expectations at all. I felt so fortunate and deeply blessed!
After my doctoral research, I then asked him about doing post-doctoral work with him. He immediately said 'yes'. As I searched for funding far and wide, he was with me through the journey. He worked with me on writing my post-doctoral proposal- word by word, sentence after sentence, with the meticulous writing style is so characteristic of him, until the proposal was beautifully worded and strongly persuasive. This proposal won my post-doctoral research opportunity with him! Again, I was fortunate to continue to grow and gain my research expertise with this amazing man as my post-doctoral advisor.
I remember the time when I informed him that my husband and I were going to have our first baby. He had this almost transcendental gaze on his face, while he congratulated me and discussed how my life would now be joyfully changed because of this beautiful new blessing of a little child. He loved his wife and family so deeply, and his deep affection for his family made him shine as an amazing role model, even as I built my family and made life decisions as a wife and mother.
Finally, the time came for us to move away from Stanford. As I was moving to Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, I met with him and discussed my future plans and career path. I was anxious and unsure about what the path ahead held in store for me and my family. I informed him that my position was a teaching appointment and I did have a promise from the institution that this would change to a tenure -track position in two years. However, I wanted 'certainty' in life. He smiled so sweetly and gently remarked: "Lumina, a lot will change in two years; people move and situations change...don't be too anxious about the future". He encouraged me to take the position at CSU and gave me sound advice on next steps. Twelve years later, as Len had accurately stated, much has changed in my life, but Professor Len Horowitz remains the man who completely and positively transformed my life. If it not had been for him, I would not be here living my dream life at CSU! In many ways, I am who I am because of the person I became through Len's mentorship and investment. Thank you, Len! You are deeply loved and will always be remembered!
Brief Biography
Len Horowitz was the co-founder and inaugural President of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research. An invaluable presence at almost every SITAR meeting, Len was awarded our Society’s first lifetime achievement award in 2014. Len also served as President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and was awarded that society’s Distinguished Career Award in 2010.
In 1960 Len joined the faculty of Stanford University’s Psychology Department, where he remained throughout his career. Beginning in the 1970s, Len focused on applying his early training and experience in measurement, psycholinguistics, and experimental methodology to elucidating psychological disorders as well as interpersonal and psychotherapeutic dynamics. Len’s many achievements include: developing the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, a measure of recurring difficulties that people may experience in their everyday interpersonal encounters and relationships; formalizing methods for generating reliable psychodynamic case formulations; and demonstrating the centrality of agency and communion for understanding how interactions can become mutually frustrating and thus how to avoid such outcomes. In his writings and his professional outreach and service, Len endeavored to connect his empirical work both to broad theoretical concerns and to the everyday challenges of practicing diagnosticians and psychotherapists.
Len Horowitz died on November 11, 2019.
Further Reading:
- For a deeper understanding of Len’s approach to psychopathology, see: Horowitz, L. M. (2004). Interpersonal foundations of psychopathology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- For more biographical information about Len’s complex and expansive career, see: Leising, D., & Locke, K. D. (2019). Leonard M. Horowitz. In V. Zeigler-Hill & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences. New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1759-1.
Ken Locke’s Memories
My sister recently discovered that our late mother had saved many of the letters we had sent her over the years. In one letter from me—dated April 21, 1985, when I was a 21-year-old first-year graduate student in cognitive psychology—I wrote the following: “I’m not sure if I mentioned my abnormal psychology class in my last letter. I find it fascinating. The professor, Len Horowitz, focuses on the interpersonal origins of abnormal behavior. That is, how certain definable patterns of interaction can cause and maintain abnormal behavior. I find this an interesting approach because it is so divergent from my way of thinking. I tend to posit intrapersonal causes for everything. That is why cognitive psychology seemed so natural to me. Regardless of how relevant an interpersonal approach is to the various forms of abnormal behavior, when I try to apply the theories (of what patterns of interaction are more stable and more likely to develop) to everyday life, they work! It is amazing how learning some theory can open your eyes…”. Reading this I felt chagrined that I subjected my dear mother to such pedantic prating, yet simultaneously delighted to realize how within weeks of joining Len’s course I was already enchanted with interpersonal theory and with Len himself.
In that course Len introduced topics the way a playwright sets a scene and introduces dramatis personae. I can picture him, turning to his right and gesturing with both hands, saying something like “Let us imagine Person A is vulnerable to feeling distressed when others seem ignore or dismiss him”. Then, turning to his left and again gesturing with both hands, “Imagine Person B, his roommate, is preoccupied with work and wants to avoid a long conversation…” Having conjured in our minds an uncluttered yet evocative “prototype” of some individual or interaction, Len would then invite us to join him in considering that person or interaction from the perspective of specific models or studies or instruments.
I not only found the material “fascinating”, but also found Len charming. Unlike certain notorious members of Stanford’s faculty during that time, Len seemed utterly uninterested in competing or showing off or winning devotees. What Len could contribute to any conversation was invariably keener and wiser than anything we students could; nevertheless, when we spoke up, he always listened attentively and respectfully and responded kindly and thoughtfully. One year after completing Len’s “abnormal psychology” course, I formally asked to switch subfields and asked Len to be my major professor; and, fortunately for me, he agreed. Once again, Len, thank you.
Daniel Leising’s Memories
In 2005, I was at a turning-point in my life. Academic psychology became more and more and frustrating to me and began to look like a dead end. When I asked myself whether there were any dreams that I had left, I realized that there actually was one: I wanted to go to Stanford University and work with this one professor that I had met at conferences a few times - Len Horowitz. Why Len? Well, Len seemed to incorporate something very rare: A fondness for psychodynamic thinking and therapy, coupled with amazing intellectual capacity and ambition. Len had a solid background in experimental psychology, yet he used that grounding in his thinking and talking about something that experimental psychology seemed to have largely given up on: psychodynamics, which one could tell was very close to his heart. Len knew how profoundly psychodynamic therapy may change people's lives for the better. So, imagine the thrill it gave me when I was finally awarded a scholarship to go to Stanford and work with Len for a year.
That year in California was a life-changing experience in many ways for my family and me, but I won't talk about that here. What I will talk about is how much of a positive example to live by Len provided me with. Len very much valued the gifts, ambitions, and ideals of younger people in particular. It seemed to give him genuine joy to be able to support fledgling young academics like me. When we were not talking about research, we had remarkably open and personal conversations about all sorts of things, ranging from the silly (e.g., Len's "nom de café": Andrew - an alias that Len used at Starbucks because the baristas always misheard his actual name) to the dead-serious (e.g., the emotional heritage resulting from Germany's nazi past). Len was also a perfectionist. To be honest, to sit next to him in front of his monitor and watch him obsess over individual sentences in a manuscript he was writing drove me crazy at first. I simply couldn't understand how in the world the wording of a single sentence in a paper comprising hundreds of sentences may be that important. In the meantime, I have come to understand: That was Len's way of thinking carefully about what he actually wanted to say to his readers. If you take your writing seriously, figuring that out does take a lot of effort, focus, time, revising and revisiting - much more than many people are willing or able to invest. Thank you for teaching me that, Len, and for everything else. We will miss you.
Fabian Ramseyer’s Memories
At my first international meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) in 2005, I first talked with Len about the interpersonal aspects of the research on nonverbal behavior I was conducting at the time. His genuine interest and sharp comments immediately caught my interest. When I then approached Len at a later (2009) SPR meeting, I was amazed by the amount of time and thought he gave to my interest in spending a year as a post-doc under his supervision. A year later, when the plans for this post-doc were already well advanced, SPR met in California, and after the conference, Len helped me plan my stay which took place later that year. With this warm support of his, I got the first very practical impression of his wonderful generosity and dedication to helping other people. During my stay, Len bequeathed me with numerous gifts, and one very precious of these was his presence in personal exchanges: Len offered me so much time and possibilities for scientific and further intellectual exchange, and I am still very much nurtured from the many discussions he shared with me. Thanks to Len’s active scientific pursuit, these exchanges could be regularly taken up over the following years in meetings at conferences or in other forms of exchange.
Both Len and his wife Sue also made a lasting impression on my extended family, who were generously made to feel at home at their residence. Their natural talent to warmly connect to my family was simply great.
The way Len treated other persons, and his general approach to many different aspects of academic as well as personal life, made a lasting impression on me: Len had such a benevolent way of dealing with other people, but this kindness was not clouded by any vagueness. To the contrary, Len always had a very distinguished and clear opinion of his own, but he managed to stay true to his philosophies and at the same time create an atmosphere that opened up many interpersonal possibilities. I look back at the many things Len generously shared with me, and the subtle things I was able to witness in his presence, and I know that I will keep aspiring to this ability.
Lumina Albert’s Memories
Len is undoubtedly the one single person that completely transformed the trajectory of my life. Living at Stanford was not easy – yes, it was a beautiful place but it could also be a destructive and aggressive environment. Reflecting back on those days, I know I survived the environment only because of the refreshing and warm presence of Len in my life as an advisor and mentor. He would meet with me every week for an hour on Tuesday afternoons. Most of those meeting times were spent discussing research topics on interpersonal relationships or involved his giving me kind and wise counsel on life choices and decision. When I was working on my first journal publication, I sought his help with edits. He kindly volunteered to help bring it to a publishable state. He read and re-read the paper for countless hours suggesting edits and explaining why those edits made sense. I was deeply touched by his actions: Here was this incredibly busy and amazingly accomplished Stanford professor, investing in me and empowering me to become a better writer and researcher. Not once did I see any signs of impatience or irritation although he was giving so much to me with no expectations at all. I felt so fortunate and deeply blessed!
After my doctoral research, I then asked him about doing post-doctoral work with him. He immediately said 'yes'. As I searched for funding far and wide, he was with me through the journey. He worked with me on writing my post-doctoral proposal- word by word, sentence after sentence, with the meticulous writing style is so characteristic of him, until the proposal was beautifully worded and strongly persuasive. This proposal won my post-doctoral research opportunity with him! Again, I was fortunate to continue to grow and gain my research expertise with this amazing man as my post-doctoral advisor.
I remember the time when I informed him that my husband and I were going to have our first baby. He had this almost transcendental gaze on his face, while he congratulated me and discussed how my life would now be joyfully changed because of this beautiful new blessing of a little child. He loved his wife and family so deeply, and his deep affection for his family made him shine as an amazing role model, even as I built my family and made life decisions as a wife and mother.
Finally, the time came for us to move away from Stanford. As I was moving to Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, I met with him and discussed my future plans and career path. I was anxious and unsure about what the path ahead held in store for me and my family. I informed him that my position was a teaching appointment and I did have a promise from the institution that this would change to a tenure -track position in two years. However, I wanted 'certainty' in life. He smiled so sweetly and gently remarked: "Lumina, a lot will change in two years; people move and situations change...don't be too anxious about the future". He encouraged me to take the position at CSU and gave me sound advice on next steps. Twelve years later, as Len had accurately stated, much has changed in my life, but Professor Len Horowitz remains the man who completely and positively transformed my life. If it not had been for him, I would not be here living my dream life at CSU! In many ways, I am who I am because of the person I became through Len's mentorship and investment. Thank you, Len! You are deeply loved and will always be remembered!