In Memory

Fabian Schupper

CHARLESTON - Dr. Fabian Xerxes Schupper died peacefully at Roper Hospice Cottage on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 in Mt. Pleasant, SC at the age of 96.

He is survived by niece, Vicki Blumenfeld (and Joel) of New York City, NY; nephew, Marshall Hambro (and Kathryn) of Minneapolis, MN and nephew, Bruce Hambro of Waltham MA. He was preceded in death by sister, Naomi Hambro of Newton, MA.

Dr. Schupper was born June 20, 1922 in New York City, New York to Morris and Pauline Roth Schupper. He earned a B.A. (1950) from New York University, an M.A. (1953) and Ph.D. (1955) from the University of Connecticut. He was also a graduate of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, Germany (1959). He completed his internship at the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Haven, Connecticut.

His distinguished, professional career over 40+ years included faculty positions in Clinical Psychology at Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, California School of Professional Psychology, the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), and Adelphi University. In addition, he served as Chief Psychologist at Roosevelt Hospital in NYC while maintaining a private clinical practice. In support of his professional affiliations, Dr. Schupper served as Associate Editor of The American Imago Journal (founded in 1939 by Sigmund Freud and Hanns Sachs.); as a member of the Board of Directors of The American Mental Health Foundation and The Avard Learning Center; as Vice President of the Association for Applied Psychoanalysis; and as Executive Secretary of the New York Psychological Association.

Dr. Schupper's long-standing relationship with the European campuses of the University of Maryland resulted in numerous and laudatory recognition of his leadership and contributions to the quality of instruction facilitated by his efforts. His work with the University of Maryland and his love of travel and culture carried him to the far corners of the world. Friends and family lived vicariously through his frequent, creative notes and post cards.

Dr. Schupper was a member of the Unitarian Church, the Carolina Yacht Club, the Preservation Society, the Charleston Library Society and the Gibbes Museum of Art.

To those who knew Fabian on a more personal level...qualities of dignity, gentility, and generosity immediately come to mind. His linguistic and cultural curiosity, love of good music and art, and a spirit of adventure was demonstrated by a lifetime of world travel. He will be remembered for his kindness, intuitiveness and generosity combined with a keen sense of observation.

In addition to his family, Fabian will be sadly missed by close friends, Antonio and Deborah Diz, Gayle Sauer, Charles Parnelle, Charles Kaiser, Robert Crout, John Meffert and others to numerous to mention. Family and friends would like to thank the following for their dedicated service and care of Dr. Schupper during his final days: Katie Daugherty, Executive Director, Stephanie Crane, Director of Sales and the staff of The Blake at Carnes Crossroads, the staff of Roper Hospice Cottage, and MUSC doctors and staff.

A memorial service was held April 6, 2019 at the sanctuary of The Unitarian Universalist Church in Charleston, 4 Archdale Street, Charleston, SC followed by the dispersion of ashes in the Garden of Remembrance and a reception in Gage Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Roper Hospice Cottage, 676 Wando Park Blvd., Mt. Pleasant SC 29464. Condolences may be sent c/o Antonio Diz, 419 Eliston Street, Summerville SC 29486 who will forward them to family.



 
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07/08/19 04:38 PM #1    

Penelope Roberts

After chatting with Fabian one time, someone said “Fabian’s inner life is sooo much more fascinating than anyone’s I’ve ever known.”  I didn’t know him that well...just from hanging around HQ, but was drawn to him nonetheless. He was a true gentleman and scholar.


07/09/19 08:00 AM #2    

Forrest Studebaker

My introduction to Fabian's unique person occurred in Italy, and my recollection reflects warmth, culture and a uniqueness that he personified.  Some spirits are so much greater than mortal flesh that we are raised by experiencing their contact.  So many great spirits among the OMA members, and Fabian among the very best of these.  We have been privileged by so many of these associations, and I'm very grateful for that.


07/09/19 08:41 AM #3    

Ronald Schlundt

For years in the European Division  Fabian  visited classes to observe, and then  chatted with us after the course sessions about students,textbooks, and general  academic concerns . He was understanding, supportive, and collegial--always one of the faculty, never  an outside administrator coming  to judge us. 

There are many good memories of his visits.  He will be missed.  

Ron Schlundt


07/09/19 03:37 PM #4    

Rosemarie Anderson

Hello All,

I remember Fabian well for his warm-hearted attempts to convince me otherwise about many things, including Berlin, psychoanalytical theory, spirituality, and so on. We had dinner often in Heidelberg in the 1980s. I always drove. 

Frequently over the years when speaking with UMUC European colleagues, I'd ask them whether Fabian is "still with us." I know from being a hospice worker that people who live long usually die the way they live. Therefore, I trust that Fabian's death was a graceful exit. 

Be well all,

Rosemarie


07/09/19 06:39 PM #5    

Patrick Dua

   I was busy teaching my course titled “Political Ideologies” at Sembach Airbase one evening when Fabian showed up late, unannounced, and took his seat at the back of the class. It was during my first week of teaching a full class with UMUC Europe. I had been scheduled by Rosemarie Anderson to teach the course in question. This occurred sometime around the early 1980s; so I had been a student myself not long before then. The administrative role of faculty observer played by Fabian was unknown to me beforehand. Neither did his apparent “intrusion” into my class disturb me in anyway. Like the students, I detected that the elderly gentleman was focused throughout on writing notes. The classroom featured a very relaxed atmosphere, since the students knew each other very well... Then it came time for break at 20:00. I was standing outside surrounded by students smoking and cracking jokes with one another. At one point, one female student interjected: Is the old guy also a student?

   I looked behind me and saw Fabian standing outside the door and looking towards my direction. I reckoned he needed to talk to me, so I walked over to him. He introduced himself to me and gave accounts of all the places he had been to and all the courses he had observed that week. He said he thought I was enthusiastic and felt very comfortable presenting my material to the class -- for which I thanked him. Fabian offered me several useful tips and advice, especially regarding how to engage and integrate the students more actively in the course flow. After the class resumed from the short break, Fabian kindly agreed to share his thoughts and insights with the class and left behind a profound impact before leaving. His brief – yet supportive - influence on me that evening remained a memorable encounter for me throughout my career with UMUC. It’s comforting to know that Fabian was blessed with such a long life. May his soul rest in peace.

(Patrick Dua)


07/10/19 08:32 AM #6    

Pauline Fry

Fabian Schupper died just at the edge of spring, and I also hope he died peacefully. He was a man of many minds and thoughts, some grueling. He once quipped, "Think of all the horrible things I've heard, people sufffering, and I have to carry it all around." Yet he kept engaging with everyone-- patients, students, faculty, colleagues, family, and friends.

I remember him most vividly on Crete where we both llived and worked in the 1970's. He observed our UMUC classes ( I was a beginning instructor in literature and writing), had a myriad of other activities going on, and always met me at the market in Iraklion. Fabian led me to the best yogurt , spooned out in great heaps by an imposing man who glared at you if your container was small. He showed me where to buy the best honey, and we shared with other freinds one amazing Greek Easter I'll never forget.

In class, he didn't impose, but he always suggested I arrange chairs in a circle. That became one of his signature observations, 'make a circle!'

Fabian was smart, senstive, witty, and had a dead pan irony that often caught me off-guard. Good by, Fabian, yours was a good life!

 


07/27/19 04:23 AM #7    

Karen Olsen

 

Pauline has said it best. Fabian was “a man of many minds and thoughts,” someone who “engaged with everyone.”

I had the pleasure and honor of working with Fabian, back when we were both Faculty Coordinators, traveling to the farthest outposts of the European Division to engage with our fellow teachers. He taught me so much—how to run workshops, how to navigate the labyrinthine ways of the Heidelberg offices and explain their Delphic utterances to those in the field, how to deal with ESOs of all stripes, how to make suggestions, always gentle ones, for improving classroom learning (and yes, putting the chairs in a circle was his favorite), how to schedule class visits so that we could then take our beleaguered and lonely and underpaid colleagues out for a meal—often the most useful help we could offer them.  And on the side, I learned from him the best place in Heidelberg to order Black Forest cake and, while we strolled together through a Berlin museum, the art of reading the faces in Renaissance portraits.

Years later I took a day-long train ride to visit him in Charleston, where I found him thoroughly enjoying his post-Maryland retirement, living in a small but elegant apartment, surrounded by new friends and admirers, dining at the yacht club. We sat one morning in the centuries-old cemetery and talked about mortality. I still treasure that time with him.

 A few days after learning of his death, I came across a poem that, to me, sums up this fine mentor, this mensch:

Praise of a Man

He went through a company like a lamplighter —

see the dull minds, one after another,

begin to glow, to shed

a beneficent light.

 

He went through a company like

a knifegrinder — see the dull minds

scattering sparks of themselves,

becoming razory, becoming useful.

 

He went through a company

as himself. But now he’s one

of the multitudinous company of the dead

where are no individuals.

 

The beneficent lights dim

but don’t vanish. The razory edges

dull, but still cut. He’s gone: but you can see

his tracks still, in the snow of the world.

 

by Norman MacCaig (1910 – 1996), from The Many Days: Selected Poems of Norman MacCaig(Edinburgh: Polygon, 2010)


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