Obituaries

Born in Manhattan in 1946, Dorien Ross was a well loved writer, teacher and clinical psychologist.  

Her deeply moving novel, Beginning with A, is based both on the grief she suffered over her brother’s death and the extraordinary experiences she had after she left home at the age of 16 to learn Flamenco guitar from a Gypsy family in Moron de la Frontera, near Sevilla in Spain. Published by City Lights books, this novel, as Publisher’s Weekly has written, is infused with “mischief and mysterious beauty.” Stories and essays by Dorien Ross have been widely anthologized and published in magazines such as Tikkun. In 1991, one of her essays was selected for the prestigious annual volume, Best American Essays. As well as a degree in English Literature from Washington University, Dr Ross earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley. She directed the program in psychology at New College in San Francisco for four years in the 1980s and in the same period served as Director of the Day Program at St Georges Home for Children in Berkeley. 

Famous for her penetrating psychological insight, she maintained a clinical practice for years, both in Berkeley and in Manhattan. She is survived by her mother, Blanche Ross, and a wide circle of friends around the world, who will miss her vibrant energy, her humor, her honesty and her big heart.