The University Record, April 12, 1999
Martin Mayman
Martin Mayman, age 74, professor emeritus of psychology and clinical psychologist, Psychological Clinic, Institute of Human Adjustment, died unexpectedly March 18. He had retired from active faculty status Dec. 31, 1997, and was granted emeritus status by the Regents March 20, 1998.
He was born April 2, 1924, in New York, and received his B.S. (1943) from the City College of New York, his M.S. (1947) from New York University, and his Ph.D. (1953) from the University of Kansas. In 1951-66, he was the director of psychological training at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kan., where he founded and directed the post-doctoral training program in clinical psychology and pioneered several well-known psychodiagnostic procedures, such as the Early Memories Test. He also was a visiting professor at the University of Colorado and the University of California, Berkeley.
Mayman completed psychoanalytic training at the Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis, one of very few psychologists at that time to be accepted into the program. He came to the U-M as a visiting professor in 1966 and became professor of psychology in 1967. He served as the associate director of the Psychological Clinic in 1967-73 and as its co-director in 1974-81.
Mayman’s early research focused on personality assessment, psychological testing and projective techniques. He continued to research psychological testing, authoring or co-authoring 28 papers on the topic, many of which have become classics in the field. He later became interested in shame and its role in development and in psychopathology. Mayman was a caring clinical supervisor who influenced generations of clinical psychology students with his clinical acumen and his extraordinary sensitivity.
He was an advisory editor for a number of journals, and also served on the executive committees of a number of professional organizations. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Projective Techniques. He received the Distinguished Contributions Award from the Society for Personality Assessment, the Distinguished Service to the Profession of Psychoanalysis Award from the City College of New York. He was invited to present the third Marguerite Hertz Memorial Lecture in Atlanta, Ga., in 1995.
He is survived by three children, Sara of Ann Arbor, Stephen of San Diego, and Daniel of New Haven; his sister, Ruth Garbin, of Ft. Lee, N.J.; and his brother, David, of Tenafly, N.J.
Submitted by the Department of Psychology
