Memory and Appreciation
RANDALL R. MACLEAN 1900-1976
Randall MacLean died in June 1976 after a long illness. I feel sure he died as he lived, with dignity and reserve, unobtrusive and uncomplaining, so that we who loved him - especially in the Canadian Psychiatric Association - were mostly unaware of his passing. Now that we know, we wish to pay homage to a pioneer of Canadian Psychiatry, a magnificient friend and a much beloved and exceptional man. Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, in 1900, he graduated in Medicine from the University of Alberta. He remained there for his internship and then worked for two years on the staff of the Alberta Mental Hospital in Ponoka. It was a daring move in those days to leave the United Empire Loyalist civilization of New Brunswick for the plains of Alberta. But his next move was equally daring and showed the progressive spirit which was to prove so fortunate for the mentally ill of Alberta. He came east again to the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and then proceeded for further graduate training to the National Hospital in Queen's Square in London, England, and-, concluded with a period at the Burgholzli Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland. He was probably the last Canadian psychiatrist to have actually studied under Eugen Bleuler. With his background he obviously had many opportunities to practise psychiatry around the world, but loyalty was one of his many virtues therefore he returned to Alberta to become director of Mental Health and the Head of the Psychiatric Teaching Service at the University of Alberta. From then on he laboured constantly to improve Canadian psychiatry and psychiatrists, and thus to improve the care given to psychiatric patients. As the Provincial Director during the formative years of modern Canadian psychiatry and through such organizations as the Advisory Committee to the Federal Department of Health and Welfare and the Canadian Mental Health Association, he exercised a wide, national influence with kindness, a tolerance, and an
honesty and knowledge which allowed him to pour oil on troubled waters and bring contentious matters to a peaceful and productive conclusion. He was an early and staunch supporter of organized psychiatry first through the American Psychiatric Association and then as a member of the group who came together at such meetings to discuss the formation of a Canadian Psychiatric Association. On the occasion of our first meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel he was the local organizer, which meant that he did all the work. I will never forget our mad dash from the hotel to Lake Louise to attend the first dinner which the Banff Springs Hotel had cancelled a few hours before. Randall rearranged everything and then drove a group of us over the hazardous highway of the early 1950s, enthusiastically describing the beauty of his home province to the ladies in the back seat, feeling that he must face his audience rather than concentrate on the hairpin curves. Randall was the third President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (1953-54) and the first to come from the west. He performed his duties with his usual efficiency and grace, and elevated the CPA in the eyes of the psychiatric world when he presided over a reception for overseas psychiatrists at the World Federation for Mental Health held in Toronto during his presidency. His personal qualities can be summed up in the words of one knowledgeable admirer: "He had an enormous capacity for choosing and keeping good friendships." I can add "Amen" to that. Canada has lost a pioneering psychiatrist; the mentally ill of Canada and especially Alberta have lost a most successful and persuasive advocate; the Canadian Psychiatric Assocition has lost a founder and a great past-president; we older members and associates have lost a true and much-loved friend.
141
Robert O. Jones, M.D. Halifax, N.S.
RANDALL R. MACLEAN 1900-1976
Randall MacLean died in June 1976 after a long illness. I feel sure he died as he lived, with dignity and reserve, unobtrusive and uncomplaining, so that we who loved him - especially in the Canadian Psychiatric Association - were mostly unaware of his passing. Now that we know, we wish to pay homage to a pioneer of Canadian Psychiatry, a magnificient friend and a much beloved and exceptional man. Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, in 1900, he graduated in Medicine from the University of Alberta. He remained there for his internship and then worked for two years on the staff of the Alberta Mental Hospital in Ponoka. It was a daring move in those days to leave the United Empire Loyalist civilization of New Brunswick for the plains of Alberta. But his next move was equally daring and showed the progressive spirit which was to prove so fortunate for the mentally ill of Alberta. He came east again to the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and then proceeded for further graduate training to the National Hospital in Queen's Square in London, England, and-, concluded with a period at the Burgholzli Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland. He was probably the last Canadian psychiatrist to have actually studied under Eugen Bleuler. With his background he obviously had many opportunities to practise psychiatry around the world, but loyalty was one of his many virtues therefore he returned to Alberta to become director of Mental Health and the Head of the Psychiatric Teaching Service at the University of Alberta. From then on he laboured constantly to improve Canadian psychiatry and psychiatrists, and thus to improve the care given to psychiatric patients. As the Provincial Director during the formative years of modern Canadian psychiatry and through such organizations as the Advisory Committee to the Federal Department of Health and Welfare and the Canadian Mental Health Association, he exercised a wide, national influence with kindness, a tolerance, and an
honesty and knowledge which allowed him to pour oil on troubled waters and bring contentious matters to a peaceful and productive conclusion. He was an early and staunch supporter of organized psychiatry first through the American Psychiatric Association and then as a member of the group who came together at such meetings to discuss the formation of a Canadian Psychiatric Association. On the occasion of our first meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel he was the local organizer, which meant that he did all the work. I will never forget our mad dash from the hotel to Lake Louise to attend the first dinner which the Banff Springs Hotel had cancelled a few hours before. Randall rearranged everything and then drove a group of us over the hazardous highway of the early 1950s, enthusiastically describing the beauty of his home province to the ladies in the back seat, feeling that he must face his audience rather than concentrate on the hairpin curves. Randall was the third President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (1953-54) and the first to come from the west. He performed his duties with his usual efficiency and grace, and elevated the CPA in the eyes of the psychiatric world when he presided over a reception for overseas psychiatrists at the World Federation for Mental Health held in Toronto during his presidency. His personal qualities can be summed up in the words of one knowledgeable admirer: "He had an enormous capacity for choosing and keeping good friendships." I can add "Amen" to that. Canada has lost a pioneering psychiatrist; the mentally ill of Canada and especially Alberta have lost a most successful and persuasive advocate; the Canadian Psychiatric Assocition has lost a founder and a great past-president; we older members and associates have lost a true and much-loved friend.
141
Robert O. Jones, M.D. Halifax, N.S.
