Ross Speck

Ross V. Speck, MD (1927-2015), was a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and family therapist. He had a strong interest in sociology and anthropology and did research in family therapy of schizophrenia, drugs, depression, and adolescents.^[1][2] He was one of the "first generation" of family therapists and a founder of the Family Institute of Philadelphia. In addition, he was the originator of NetWork Therapy.

Career

A native of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, Speck received his medical degree in 1951 from the University of Toronto.^[3] He taught at Thomas Jefferson University and Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia^[3] and at The Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957, while working at Brooke Army Medical Center.^[3][4] He was on the faculty of the International R.D. Laing Institute in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and was a friend of Laing's. He was a life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. In the 1960s, he founded the Family Institute of Philadelphia,^[3] in the neighborhood of Spring Garden. He also was the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute clinical director from 1958 to 1964,^[5] a psychiatry professor at Hahnemann Medical College from 1960 to 1970, and worked as a researcher at the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center from 1966 to 1972.^[3] In September 1969, he coined the concept of Network Therapy in an article co-written with Uri Rueveni.^[6][7][4]

Among his books are Family Networks (1972; with Carolyn Attneave) and The New Families (1972).^[3][8][4] He served on the editorial board of the journals Family Process, Journal of Psychotherapy and the Family and Journal of Family Psychotherapy. Speck also worked as a Thomas Jefferson University part-time clinical professor of psychiatry from 1980 to 1990, and was a professor at the Union Institute in Cincinnati from 1980 to 1993.^[3]

He died at his home in Thorofare, New Jersey on May 23, 2015.^[3]

Personal life

Speck was married to psychotherapist Joan Kendig Gill, daughter of Isabelle Kendig and Howard Belding Gill,^[9] and was later known as Joan Lincoln Speck or Joan Speck.^[3][4][10] He had four sons and three daughters, along with two stepsons, and was previously married to a woman named Margaret.^[3]

See also

• Family therapy
• Social work