WORLD HEALER – Newsletter of the WPA – Transcultural Psychiatry Section, vol. 3, n° 5 : July 2008

It comes as a shock to realize that even in such a comparatively young field as the contemporary field of cultural psychiatry is, we must confront the illness and death of colleagues and friends who have been important contributors to our discipline.
Such has been the case recently. On March 30th, our good friend and colleague, Alexander Friedmann, died suddenly and unexpectedly, in Vienna.
Alex played a central part in the Vienna Organizing Committee for the highly successful WPA-TPS conference held in Vienna, at the Vienna University Medical School and Hospital, in April, 2006. He was also a key member of the Organizing Committee of the 1st International Conference on Transcultural Psychiatry in the German-speaking Countries, co-sponsored by WPA-TPS and held in Witten Germany, in September 2007.
Before his untimely death, Alex was very actively involved in the planning for the 2nd International Conference on Transcultural Psychiatry in the German-speaking Countries, to be held in Vienna in September 2008.
His enthusiasm, commitment, open-mindedness and good humor will be very much missed by all who knew him and worked with him. Alex Friedmann was only 59 years old when he died. In addition to many, many friends and colleagues who mourn his loss, he leaves Kitty, twin sons, age 14, and a daughter, age 10.
In January, I worked with Alex on the editing of his bio-sketch, it is included in this memorial tribute to him.