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Vittorio Guidano died of a sudden heart attack on August 31, 1999. He had just turned 55. When I received the news early that day, my own heart sank to a level that it had never before fathomed. We had felt ourselves to be loving brothers since our first meeting in February of 1980. I do not intend or desire to write anything resembling an "objective" obituary or adequate tribute to his memory. I intend to write from my heart, where Vittorio will always remain.
For those who may be interested in details, he was born August 4, 1944 in Rome. His father was a chemist. He spent several years of his adolescence in Caracas, Venezuela, and then returned to Rome for his formal schooling. Ironically, his Bachelor of Arts degree was earned at the College of Giambattista Vico, a pioneer in constructivist philosophy. Vittorio earned his M.D. at the University of Rome in 1969. His residency in Psychiatry was done at the University of Pisa and completed in 1972. In that same year he was the founder and first President of the Italian Association of Behavior Therapy. He did several years of research before being appointed an Assistant Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychopathology at the University of Rome. His appointment began in 1976. In 1978 he founded the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Rome, which offered therapy, professional training, and opportunities for research. The Center grew rapidly in reputation and responsibilities. In 1986 Vittorio terminated his appointment at the University of Rome and devoted himself full-time to private practice, therapist training, research, and writing.
Vittorio and I met as if by accident. It was an encounter that changed both of our lives thereafter. I had been invited to speak in Berlin, and somehow word of this had reached Rome. I received a letter asking if I would consider giving a talk at the University of Rome while I was in Europe. Never having ventured into Italy or the Mediterranean, I readily agreed. At the time I was working on the early forms of my ideas about human change processes. The title of my talk in Rome was "The Structure of Personal Revolutions." It was patterned after Thomas Kuhn's (1962) The Structure of Scientific...