Ernest POSER

Prof. Ernest G. Poser: My wise teacher, Advisor, mentor, occasional tormentor, and friend. Through his fierce intelligence, grace, charm, and humour, he taught me how to be a good psychologist, a good man, and a good human being. My deepest sympathies, and warmest wishes, to Jutta, Yvonne, Carol, and Michael, and to all those whose lives Ernest touched as deeply as he did mine.

“I will always remember Dr Ernest Poser as my precious mentor and colleague for more than 15 years at the Behavior Therapy Unit, Douglas Hospital Center. It is Dr Poser who brought Cognitive Behavior Therapy to North America (Montreal-Canada). For years he made us all proud of our unit nestled within a major Psychiatric Teaching Hospital.

Psychology Interns and Psychiatry Residents from all over the world used to compete for a place to get educated in this unique and prestigious unit, the brainchild of Dr Ernest Poser.

As his colleague I felt proud to tell everyone that I was part of his international team at the Behavior Therapy Unit. And that he contacted and invited me to join his team without me applying for a position... Oh, what an honor that was for a young novice psychologist just out of university studies!

In his gentlemanly and soft spoken manner, Dr. Poser was often invited to give opening addresses to major professional events locally and internationally. Thus, besides being in academia at McGill University, a Director and a Clinician/Researcher at the unit, he was also an astute CEO keeping the image of his beloved unit as a model to be copied by other hospitals.

Montreal lost a giant when Dr Poser moved to Vancouver. After all these years we still remember him with respect and fondness.

His is a life well lived. His memory will be etched as a good teacher, caring colleague, creative trailblazer and a sound human being with integrity and depth.”

Ernest was a true pioneer of clinical psychology in North America as one of the first to take research findings from experimental psychology and turn them into practical treatments. He did all this with wit, humor and abundant good will. We all owe him a huge debt of gratitude.