Morton Deutsch (1920 - 2017)
A memorial by Peter Coleman and Columbia University students of Professor Deutsch
Morton Deutsch is our hero.
His life, his work, his brilliance, wit, and generosity of spirit, have guided us now for the entirety of our adult life, and changed us and the course of our lives fundamentally.
From his early days as a premature baby (arriving 2 months early), a precocious student (skipping 3 grades in school), a pubescent college student (entering City College at 15), and a union-organizing busboy in the Catskills, Mort took on this world with an eagerness and intellectual ferocity few have known.
As a World War II navigator of note (flying 30+ bombing missions over Nazi Germany), a life-long lover of the ever-remarkable artist Lydia Deutsch, a tireless advocate of causes, socially just, a world traveler, and a passionate patron of all-things related to art and food and culture in NYC, Mort epitomized living a good life.
Professionally, Mort is simply an icon. A psychologist, theorist, researcher, teacher, and mentor who was not merely at the top of his field throughout his career, but who in many cases founded and defined his field.
Armed with the power of ideas and the scientific method, he had the courage and tenacity to tackle the major issues of his time – the threat of thermonuclear war, segregation and prejudice, injustice, oppression, and ultimately creating a global community in service of sustainable peace.
Everything we have done of merit in our careers can be easily traced back to Mort’s influence. His original work continues to this day to provide many of us with a wellspring of insight and clarity of purpose that will never run dry.
We had never before encountered a person of such moral imagination and genius – someone whose work clearly transformed the world for the better – who also offered such warmth, decency, care, and strength of character.
It was a privilege and high honor for us to have been lucky enough to spend time working closely with Mort. We conducted studies together, wrote together, traveled together, butted heads at times, and he edited the hell out of many of our best papers. And through it all we felt so fortunate to have happened into his life where we found his unconditional support and – yes – his love as a much-needed home.
We will miss him every day.
Allow us to leave you now, Professor Deutsch, with the words penned by Walt Whitman at the death of his hero, Abraham Lincoln.
“O CAPTAIN! my captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring.”