Maxine Anderson

Maxine Anderson, co-founder and former leader of Northwest Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, dies at 83

Maxine Karen Anderson MD, a much beloved psychoanalyst, teacher, and author died of complications related to ALS on March 20, 2026.

Maxine (known in her family as Missy) was born in San Francisco on Oct 3, 1942. Her father, Henry Randolph Anderson, and mother, Maxine Isabel Stillson Anderson, were native west-coasters, and Maxine lived most of her richly active adult life in Seattle, WA. She loved the outdoors, and with her husband Al enjoyed sailing, skiing, hiking and bicycling. She sang with the Medieval Women’s Choir for several years, and she was an active supporter of conservation and social justice efforts. As an adult she lived in Montreal, Canada; Seattle USA; London, England, and settled in Seattle and Vashon Island.

Maxine was a devoted psychoanalyst with a practice that spanned over half a century. Her deep learning was tempered by deep compassion. She cultivated her profession for more than five decades and had friends and colleagues across the nation and even around the globe. She was a clinician, teacher, supervisor and mentor of the first order, passing her wisdom to generations of analysts that followed her. In this age of technological wizardry, Maxine was first and foremost a champion of the best in human nature, serving others with humility and gentleness while evolving self-understanding through practice, teaching, writing and study. Elie Debbane described Maxine well: “She had the gift of quiet passion, one that envelops and does not disturb.”

Maxine’s determination to be informed by many perspectives was evident in her writing. Books include The Wisdom of Lived Experience: Views from Psychoanalysis, Neuroscience, Philosophy and Metaphysics (2016); From Tribal Division to Welcoming Inclusion (2019) and The Hardest Passage: A Psychoanalyst Accompanies her Patient’s Journey Into Dementia (2025). Maxine wrote until the time of her death, and her final work will be included in an upcoming book to be published in 2027.

Maxine was a steadfast member of a vast multitude of psychoanalytic groups, offering gifts of time, money, collegial and emotional support for the process of psychoanalytic learning and practice. Among them we note the Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies (Princeton) with membership from 1982 until 2026. (She also served on the CAPS Board from 2020 onward). She served on the Board for the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPEInc), conducting site visits to support credentialling of psychoanalytic institutes.

Liling Lin, President of Taiwan Psychoanalytic Association, offered condolence on news of Maxine’s death, writing:

“We are profoundly grateful for Maxine’s unwavering dedication and generosity during her time serving on the IPA Liaison Committee. Her guidance was instrumental in the development of psychoanalysis in Taiwan. We especially cherish the memory of her visit to Taiwan last year. Her presence and insights left a lasting impact on all of us.”

In addition to membership in the International Psychoanalytical Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association, Maxine was a longstanding and steadfast supporter of Institutes in several regional communities including the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the Western Canada Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in Vancouver, BC; and the Oregon Psychoanalytic Institute in Portland, Oregon.

Maxine established many study groups within NPSI, such as the Mourning and Resilience group begun in the Covid Pandemic through 2025, and the Training Analyst Support Group, offered intermittently throughout NPSI’s existence. She developed groups outside institutions as well. Through the Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Studies Maxine and Marianne Robinson co-led a Bion study group (2008-2024) reading Bion aloud and discovering rich meaning along the way. Other endeavors included the Neuroscience Study Group, The Elders Group, and the Grove, a clinical group that began in Aspen in 2016 and met for the last decade of her life. Maxine, with husband Al, was a generous host, and often invited colleagues to meet in her home.

During an earlier marriage to Austin Case she helped found the Center for Object Relations. This history is related on the COR website, which interested viewers can access here: https://centerforobjectrelations.org/history/

With Marianne Robinson, Maxine founded the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and Institute https://npsi.us.com/

Marianne reflects:

I first met Maxine in 1987 in London when I visited to meet with Austin. From 1995 onwards Maxine and I worked intensively to develop Seattle’s growing British Object Relations Group’s relationship to The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). We became a Study Group At the 1991 Santiago Congress, a Provisional Society (New Orleans in 2001) and a Component Society 2007 in Berlin, the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society. Maxine was the first President of NPSI and was intimately involved in its growth and development until her death.

Maxine met life with an exceptional mind and an eager curiosity which enabled her to consider the complex relationships between the internal world and external reality on a level few others do. Among many examples I include waking early every morning in Yosemite National Park to study the geology of the surrounding mountains; and venturing into the streets to study crowd behavior during the 1999 Seattle WTO riots. Clinically, she had the courage and personal sturdiness to follow the decline of a person with Alzheimer’s using her years of psychoanalytic experience as a guide.

Her openness to such diverse experiences culminated in her books where she shared the fruit of her creative thinking – important contributions to our field.

Maxine carried her characteristic curiosity and openness to the day she died, acknowledging that she knew death was near, that it was frightening, and that she was curious about what it would be like. Maxine died peacefully, surrounded by her family and friends.

Maxine’s older brother Clifford Hamilton Anderson died in 2012, (father of Katherine Bartlett Anderson and Michael Anderson). Maxine is survived by her husband Al Francisco and 2 younger siblings, Nelson Jeffrey Anderson of Carmel, CA (father of Dane, Jeff and Katie Anderson) and Julie Priscilla Anderson of Brookline, MA. (mother of Phoebe Anderson-Kline of Seattle)

In addition to gatherings in the psychoanalytic community, a private memorial service will be held over the summer. Donations in Maxine’s honor can be made to the Equal Justice Initiative, or the Foundation of Skyline Retirement Community where Maxine spent her last months under the care of the dedicated nursing staff.