KARL FOSSUM

In Memoriam in the New York Times, 2/1 and 2/2/2020
FOSSUM-Karl Georg, MD
He lives forever in the memories and hearts of all who loved him.
Martina Leonard Fossum

KARL GEORG FOSSUM, MD
9/21/1931 ~ 2/1/2017 (age 85)
Dr. Karl Georg Fossum; Psychiatrist, 85, passed away peacefully on February 1st, surrounded by loving family and friends in the beautiful home he loved, and that he and his wife, Martina, had had built in the lovely Hudson Valley. The area reminded Karl of Norway, where he was born to parents, Georg and Ragnhild (Saeby) Fossum in 1931. Karl graduated from Grorud Hoyere Skole (1950) with plans to attend medical school in the U.S. He...

FOSSUM Karl Georg, M.D.
9/21/1931 - 2/1/2017
Love is not changed by
death. (Edith Sitwell)
Karl will be forever beloved by all who knew him, and especially by me.
Martina Leonard Fossum

FOSSUM Karl Georg, M.D.
9/21/1931 - 2/1/2017
Love is not changed by
death. (Edith Sitwell)
Karl will be forever beloved by all who knew him, and especially by me.
Martina Leonard Fossum

Dear Martina,
I hope that, with the passage of time, the pain of the loss is fading, leaving you only with the memories of the good times that you and Karl had, and the good things that Karl did in the world and that we are all blessed to remember.

Yours sincerely,
Ira Straus, Chair of the Center for War/Peace Studies

I met Karl while both of us were serving on the board of center for war and peace studies, a non profit think tank based in New York City. Karl was an incredible, intelligent and thoughtful board member and a colleague. I could always rely on his wisdom to navigate most difficult board decisions. I found Karl was very generous with his time and economic resources for public causes. He was an empathetic person and interested in truly helping to shape the world for better. Karl and I bacame...

Karl was a great internationalist who strove for world peace. Although I did not have the opportunity to meet him personally, he was well-known to those of us in the Center for War and Peace Studies as somebody who made important contributions to our organization. He will be greatly missed!

Karl Fossum came to one of my lectures about Norwegian medicine and psychoanalysis in New York, and we had a long conversation afterwards. Neither he nor I knew then that he was an old friend of my family, his mother was a friend of my grandmother and his cousin my mother's best friend. He was warm, friendly, intelligent, with great sense of humour. He taught his friend Dustin Hoffman Norwegian while they were students, as Hoffmann told a Norwegian reporter. I am grateful for the contact we...