Bernard William Bail

November 18, 1920 - January 26, 2021 Dr. Bernard William Bail, 100, died of natural causes on January 26, 2021, in Los Angeles, CA. He was a fearless pioneer of psychoanalysis whose work shall long outlive him.Dr. Bail was born in Philadelphia, PA, on November 18, 1920, to Lillian and Abraham Bail, Jewish immigrants from Russia. He grew up in a working class neighborhood and graduated from West Chester State Teachers College (now West Chester University) in 1942.That same year, Dr. Bail joined the Air Force as a navigator. Near the end of the war, in 1945, his plane was shot down, and Dr. Bail was forced to parachute to the ground, ripping off his dog tags so the Nazis wouldn't know he was Jewish. He later received many honors, including the Purple Heart and the French Legion of Honor, for his valor. Having been shot in the head, Dr. Bail was taken to a military hospital as a prisoner of war. During his convalescence, he fell in love with a German nurse, an experience that shaped his later research on human emotion. In 2007, he wrote a memoir, "Irmgard's Flute," about their relationship and its influence on his life. Upon his return to the States, Dr. Bail attended Temple University, graduating with a medical degree in 1952. He then moved to Los Angeles to do his psychiatry residency at the VA and after that went on to study psychoanalysis.Dr. Bail soon became a well-known figure on the city's psychoanalytic scene. He was both influential and controversial, constantly questioning the boundaries of the profession. In addition to a thriving private practice, he taught at UCLA and the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (now called the New Center for Psychoanalysis). His greatest contribution to the field was his theory on intra-uterine imprinting, which he wrote about in his seminal book, "The Mother's Signature: A Journal of Dreams." In 2018, Dr. Bail's life and work were featured in a Jill Demby Guest documentary called "And Now, Love." Dr. Bail will be remembered as brilliant, witty, and hard working; a bold thinker and voracious reader, a lover of travel and admirer of art. He was always striving to learn more; he was always asking "what if?", especially when it came to his patients. He was, in short, a boundary breaker for whom the status quo was never good enough. Dr. Bail retired at the age of 99. He had dedicated nearly seven decades to finding more effective psychoanalytic treatments and experiencing the unending thrill of seeing his patients' lives change. To Dr. Bail, watching them learn and grow was one of life's greatest gifts. Dr. Bail is predeceased by his brothers, Paul Bail and Sidney Bail. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia Marks; his children, Lisa Bail and Matthew Bail; and his grandchildren, Alexa Bail and Sam Bail.