Rollo May

Rollo May (1909-1994) was the most renowned American existential psychologist, who played a central role in both the development and dissemination of existential psychology. He is often referred to as the "father of existential psychology." His educational journey began at Michigan State University, where he primarily studied English but was expelled due to his involvement in a radical student magazine. He continued his studies at Oberlin College, where he earned a degree in English literature. Subsequently, he taught for three years in Thessaloniki at Anatolia College, while also traveling and attending Adler's seminars in Vienna. In 1949, he completed his doctorate in psychology at Columbia University in New York. His teaching career had already begun as a faculty member at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Psychoanalysis (1943). He later taught at the New School for Social Research (1955-1975), and as a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other universities. From Freud's circle, he considered Otto Rank a genius and the most significant precursor of existential psychotherapy. He was influenced by, among others, Kierkegaard, Paul Tillich, and his contemporary existentialist philosophers. In turn, Rollo May deeply influenced many, including his student Irvin Yalom, as well as several well-known Greek psychotherapists. He passed away at the age of eighty-five, despite having contracted tuberculosis at a young age, which left his health always fragile and precarious.