John Fitzpatrick: Early Psychohistorian

Jack Fitzpatrick (1940–2024) was a co-founder of the Psychohistory Review (PR). He is an early example of a historian who trained in and practiced psychoanalysis until ultimately deciding to make his career applying his unique historical and psychological knowledge as a business consultant. Born in Plattsburgh, New York, Jack earned his BA from Georgetown University, his MA from UCLA, and his PhD from UCA-Berkeley. Next, at the Menninger’s Topeka Psychoanalytic Institute in Topeka, Kansas, he trained in psychoanalysis and worked there for a number of years. Before he eventually dropped his plan of becoming a university professor, Jack taught at Phillips Exeter Academy, UC-Berkeley, the University of Kansas, and the Topeka Psychoanalytic Institute. As an advocate of the challenging, exciting, interesting, and new field of psychohistory, he threw himself into this endeavor. Besides editing and writing articles for the PR, he also wrote a feature called “Teaching Methods,” which changed in 1977 to “Teaching Forum.”