Requiescat in pace. 1934-2011
Wolf Wolfensberger, Ph.D., 76, of Syracuse, New York, died on February 27, 2011, at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Since 1973, Dr. Wolfensberger was a professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University and the director of the Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership and Change Agentry at Syracuse University. He was an internationally renowned and often controversial scholar, activist and prolific author in the field of development disabilities. A major early promoter and organizer of community services for the mentally retarded, he worked tirelessly to liberate societally devalued people from oppressions and improve their social position. He popularized the principle of normalization in North America, formulated the concept of Social Role Valorization, and founded Citizen Advocacy, which recruits ordinary citizens to act as unpaid voluntary individual advocates for vulnerable persons. His books, which have been translated into 11 languages, include Changing Patterns in Residential Services for the Mentally Retarded, PASS and PASSING, as well as The Principle of Normalization which in 1991 was ranked #1 in the “Education and Training in Mental Retardation” list of 25 classic works in the field.
Dr. Wolfensberger was born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1934, the son of Friedrich and Helene Wolfensberger. He immigrated to the United States in 1950. He earned a BS in Philosophy at Siena College in Memphis, Tennessee, an MS in Psychology at St. Louis University and a Ph.D. in Psychology and Mental Retardation from Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University). He was on the faculty at the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute of the University of Nebraska Medical School in Omaha from 1964-71. From 1971 – 1973 he was a visiting scholar at the National Institute on Mental Retardation in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Wolfensberger held the title of US chess expert, was active in documenting the history of his family and loved cats and song. He was a member of the Unity Kitchen Community of the Catholic Worker and a founder of the l’Arche community in Syracuse. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Nancy Artz Wolfensberger; daughters, Margaret (Tim) Sager of Philadelphia and Joan (Kurt) Lloyd of Chicago; son, Paul (Patrice) of Knoxville, TN; grandchildren, Tate, Jennifer and Hadley Sager; sister, Marian (Henry) Jarzombek of Rhode Island; sister-in-law, Gisela Meckel Wolfensberger of Germany; aunt, Hadwig Mannheimer of New York.
A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 5, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 259 East Onondaga Street in Syracuse. On Friday, March 4, calling hours will be 4 to 6 p.m. with a vigil service 6 to 7 p.m. at All Saints Church, 1340 Lancaster Avenue in Syracuse. Interment will be in Indiana.
Contributions, in lieu of flowers, to Citizen Advocacy Foundation of America, c/o S. Thomas, 231 Miles Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210.
Fairchild & Meech DeWitt Chapel in charge of arrangements.
http://obits.syracuse.com/obituaries/syracuse/obituary.aspx?n=wolf-wolfensberger&pid=149061423