Born Berlin, July 21, 1926.
Died Glasgow, February 23, 2008, 81.
A major figure in the psychology of child development, Professor Rudolph Schaffer was 12 when he came to Britain on a Kindertransport.
Sent to a Quaker boarding school in Yorkshire, he studied architecture at Liverpool University but gave it up to go to London and study psychology at Birkbeck College evening classes while working for a glass export company. His parents perished in the Holocaust.
After graduating and marrying Evelyn Jackson in 1950, he worked from 1951-55 at London’s famous Tavistock Clinic, focusing on the problems of children separated from parents. Moving to Glasgow, he worked from 1955-63 as a clinical psychologist at the Hospital for Sick Children and gained his doctorate at Glasgow University.
He became an internationally known figure from 1964, when he became a founding member of the psychology department of the newly created University of Strathclyde until retiring as emeritus professor in 1992. He then trained members of the Children’s Panel in Scotland.
A popular teacher, deep researcher and prolific writer, he also taught at the Open University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate, and was founding editor of the academic journal Social Development.
He is survived by his wife, son and daughter, and four grandchildren.
