Marmor, Judd.

Biography

Judd Marmor was born in London, England, in 1910, the son of a Yiddish scholar. He grew up in Chicago, and later moved to New York, where he supported himself through Columbia College with odd jobs and debating scholarships. He earned his medical degree from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1933, and went into private psychiatric practice in New York. In 1946, after serving in the Navy during World War II, he moved to Los Angeles, where he gained prominence as an analyst to Hollywood celebrities. He was also widely respected as an analyst and scholar, publishing more than 350 papers and writing or editing six books, including the classic text Modern Psychoanalysis, first published in 1968. He served as director of the psychiatry division at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from 1965 to 1972. From 1972 to 1980 he was Franz Alexander Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Southern California, and from 1980 to 1985 adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Marmor had begun to treat homosexual patients who wanted to change their orientation in the 1940s. Although he originally held the belief that homosexuality was an illness, his clinical experiences with gay patients and later his social interactions with gays who were happy with their lives and emotionally well-adjusted convinced him that homosexuality was not pathological. His view was supported and influenced by the Evelyn Hooker's groundbreaking study, published in 1957, which found no measurable psychological difference between heterosexual and homosexual men. Marmor asked Hooker to write a chapter for his first book on homosexuality, Sexual Inversion, published in 1965; she in turn recruited him for the National Institute of Mental Health Task Force on Homosexuality in 1969. The two became close colleagues and friends, often lecturing together.

The evolution of Marmor's view of homosexuality as a normal condition coincided with the growth of gay and lesbian activism. At the 1972 annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association in Dallas, Marmor, then Vice President of the organization, participated in a dramatic presentation with fellow psychiatrist Robert Seidenburg, gay activist Franklin Kameny, lesbian activist Barbara Gittings, and a gay psychiatrist wearing a mask and identifying himself as "Dr. H. Anonymous". The following year, Marmor played a critical role in the campaign to remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . The issue was so controversial that it was placed before the full membership, which adopted the resolution to remove homosexuality from the Manual in a split vote in December 1973. The removal of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders was one of the single most important events in the modern history of the gay movement, and by taking away part of the basis for disparaging and belittling gays and lesbians was crucial in breaking down other barriers.

Marmor continued to see patients until shortly before his death. He also served for many years as advisor to Abigail Van Buren, who wrote the "Dear Abby" newspaper column and was one of the first national figures to support gay rights. He and his wife were also serious collectors of art, lending and giving many artworks to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He died in Los Angeles at the age of 93, on December 16, 2003, a day after the 30th anniversary of the American Psychiatric Association's vote to remove homosexuality from its Diagnostic Manual .

Source: Obituary by Elaine Woo, Los Angeles Times, December 20, 2003, p. B20.

From the guide to the Judd Marmor papers, 1943-1998, (ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.)

Biography

Judah (Judd) Marmor, M.D. (1910-2003) was an important Los Angeles psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, acknowledged for his leadership role in the movement to declassify homosexuality as a mental disease, which was removed from DSM-II in 1973.

Born on May 1, 1910 in London, England, Dr. Marmor grew up in Chicago and New York. He attended Columbia College as a Pulitzer scholar and graduated from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1933. Afterwards he began his postgraduate training in neurology and psychiatry and went into private psychiatric practice. Dr. Marmor began his psychoanalytic training four years later at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute in 1937.

After serving as a Senior Attending Surgeon (Lt.) in the Navy during WWII, Dr. Marmor and his wife Katherine moved to Los Angeles where he began as the Senior Attending Psychiatrist at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in 1947. At this time he began visiting professorships in psychology and social welfare at the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California, Los Angles (UCLA). In 1952, Dr. Marmor was appointed Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and a year later began as a Training Analyst for the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute. In 1965 Dr. Marmor assumed the position of Director of the Division of Psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and in 1972 became the first Franz Alexander Professor of Psychiatry Chair at the USC School of Medicine.

Dr. Marmor rose to prominence early in his career in academic and professional psychiatric and psychoanalytic communities; he was known as a talented educator, prolific writer and a compassionate clinician. He was respected for his analytic work with Hollywood celebrities, his strong commitment to the civil and women's rights movements, and was also known to the public as Abigail Van Buren's mental health expert in "Dear Abby" advice columns.

Judd Marmor was also a leading figure in the movement to declassify homosexuality as a mental disease. Dr. Marmor worked for many years with homosexual patients beginning in the 1940s, and his first book Sexual Inversion and early publications regarding the subject were some of the first to feature biopsychosocial approaches to the issue of homosexuality. In 1967, Evelyn Hooker, chairwoman of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Task Force on Homosexuality, nominated Judd to be a member. The NIMH Task Force produced an influential final report two years later, the recommendations of which would have far-reaching effects for social policy, training, treatment, and government funded research.

From 1970 to 1973 annual APA conferences were disrupted by protests from gay activists. Shortly after Dr. John Fryer's now famous "Dr. H. Anonymous" presentation at the annual APA conference in Dallas in May of 1972, the Nomenclature Committee, Dr. Marmor then the Vice President and Dr. John P. Spiegel the President-elect of the APA met with gay activist groups to discuss the category of homosexuality as it appeared in the Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In 1973, a DSM-II development committee led by Dr. Robert Spitzer put forth a vote to the APA Board of Trustees, and a year later the APA membership would vote to remove homosexuality from the DSM-II. Dr. Marmor had long been an outspoken critic of classifying homosexuality as a mental illness and was influential in many historic events that ended discrimination against homosexuals in the psychiatric community.

Dr. Marmor sat on numerous journal editorial boards and boards of directors, and was the president and/or vice-president of six professional medical organizations and societies; including the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, American Psychiatric Association, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute, and Southern California Psychoanalytic Society. He was the principle author and editor of 8 books and over 350 scientific journal articles featuring a spectrum of psychiatric and psychoanalytic topics.

Judd and his wife Katherine, a clinical psychologist, were also collectors of contemporary art. Both sat on the Contemporary Art Council board of directors at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and were known to have lent and donated artworks to LACMA and MOCA.

Dr. Marmor died on December 16, 2003 at the age of 93.

From the guide to the Judd Marmor papers, 1923-2001, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)