Renan Robinson Suhl

August 9, 1932 - June 17, 2015 Renan Robinson Suhl, nee McCeney, died at her home in Santa Monica, California on June 17th, 2015. She was 82. She had been in failing health and was being cared for in her home. Renan was born in Washington, DC on August 9th, 1932 to James McCeney and Margaret King. Her father was an aide to Senator King (Utah 1917-1941), her mother's uncle. When Margaret married Arthur Robinson she was adopted by him; the family lived in Salt Lake City before relocating to La Jolla, California. Margaret became the first professional woman oceanographer in the US at Scripps Institute; Arthur was a journalist. Renan was a bright and curious student who was interested in history and philosophy; she excelled as a debater and won awards for her high school debate team. She was restless in La Jolla and went to study in Paris after high school, a time she looked back on fondly. She returned to San Diego and studied at Cal State San Diego where she met her first husband, Immunologist Eli Sercarz. They moved to Cambridge where Eli was a graduate student at Harvard and a postdoctoral student at MIT; they had 4 children together, Margo, Lisa, Joel and Sarayana. Eli joined the faculty at UCLA department of Microbiology and the family moved to Los Angeles. Renan read widely in philosophy and psychology and as her children grew she began her work in Radical Psychology and later became a trainer at the Radix Institute. She married Emmanuel Suhl in 1980, a native of Leipzig, Germany, and a control systems engineer at Boeing. Throughout her professional life she contributed significantly to the theoretical understanding of body psychotherapy and was a strong mentor to many of the people as senior trainer of the neo-Reichian--oriented Radix Institute. Renan conducted trainings all over the United States and Europe (with a residency in Vienna), in Australia and privately. Her keen intellect and talent were widely recognized by a community of colleagues, students and trainees, whom she continued to supervise until her retirement. Renan was passionate about progressive politics, considering herself a Socialist, and loved art (especially painting) and music. She was a devotee of opera, Mahler symphonies and Schubert lieder and she thrilled to follow Gustavo Dudamel conduct the LA Philharmonic in recent years. She had many close friendships that she valued deeply. She lived life with great gusto, and "lots and lots of butter." She touched the lives of many people and will be missed . She is survived by her brother, Creighton Robinson, her children Lisa Kern, Joel Sercarz and Sarayana Sercarz, her grandchildren Shaun Wagner, Charlotte Wagner, Kristyana Kern, Nicola Celada, Alice Kern, Aaryn Kern, Mateo Celada, Mia Sercarz and Antonio Sercarz. Her eldest daughter, Margo Sercarz predeceased her. She also leaves many friends, clients, associates, godchildren Meagan McLeod and Isabel Smith, nieces Eva and Alana Robinson. A private memorial will be held at her home on July 5th, 2015. Donations to a social justice cause or arts organization in lieu of flowers.