Peter Wolff - intellectual and humanitarian

With great sadness, we announce that Peter Wolff, one of the most brilliant and admired figures in the field of child development and developmental neuropsychiatry and an activist humanitarian, who worked with the abandoned orphans of the Eritrean-Ethiopian war, has died.

Peter Wolff (1926 - 2021)

Peter Wolff was often referred to as “The Einstein of Pediatric psychiatry”.  Although he never sought recognition for his remarkable achievements in science or in clinical work, his pioneering thinking has benefited patients, families, and researchers around the world. He was an advocate for philosophical argument and strongly believed that public debate should incorporate a diversity of opinions.  An independent thinker and a purveyor of ideas who often challenged mainstream views, Peter could be dauntingly direct but was kind and humble, always ready to lighten the moment with humor.  I am therefore grateful to have this opportunity to describe how his ideas have contributed to our work at the Brazelton Institute, and indeed to the field of infancy research, in general. I would also like to describe how his in-situ activist humanitarian work with the abandoned orphans of the Eritrean-Ethiopian war and his work with the physicians and nurses who cared for these children, provide an inspiring example on how to listen to and honor child and family choices and how essential it is to give children and their families a meaningful voice in decision making. 

Peter Wolff was born in 1926 in Krefeld, Germany, and fled to Holland where he spent two years as a political refugee before he emigrated to the United States.  He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and his medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine.  He came to Boston Children’s Hospital in 1956 as a research psychiatrist, where he worked until his retirement in 2016. From the beginning of his career, Peter Wolff questioned the scientific basis for psychoanalysis and greatly admired Piaget’s use of rigorous observation methods.  He was one of the first researchers – if not the first - to systematically observe and record newborn infant behavior for extended periods of time - sometimes for 12 hours or more at a sitting - and thus made a foundational contribution to our understanding and appreciation of the complexity and competencies of the human newborn.  His monograph, “The causes, controls, and organization of behavior in the neonate”, published in 1959, was his attempt to bridge psychiatry and developmental biology.  It was here that he first categorized infant states of consciousness: “REM-sleep”, “non-REM sleep”, “quiet alert,” “active alert” and “crying”.  It was his painstaking observations of newborn behavioral state that lay the groundwork for Berry Brazelton’s work in developing the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), and Heinz Prechtl’s efforts to develop a standardized neurological examination for neonates. Both Brazelton and Prechtl realised the critical importance of considering the state in evaluating any response on the part of the newborn and came to see that state variables typically will interfere with or override the neonate's attentional and processing tendencies.  The concept of behavioral state not only refined the researcher’s and the clinician’s appreciation of newborn competencies but for practitioners and parents, the behavioral states could be seen as a “window” into the baby’s intentional world.  It led to the realization that the newborn infant is deliberately communicating intentions and feelings and has a “point of view” that needs to be acknowledged and respected from the very beginning. 

Less is known about Peter’s activist humanitarian role in the protracted Eritrean-Ethiopian war, when the Eritreans sought him out to help them build up their medical system.  He gave me the privilege of reviewing his recently completed memoir of his time in Eritrea.  Peter brings the art of the storyteller through this narrative - big themes mingle with personal tragedy, which makes it not only intellectually challenging and emotionally exhilarating but compulsively readable.  It is an elegant book with an epic narrative sweep, dealing with the complexity of war and its effects on children.  While the war was still being waged, he describes how he spent time there hiding in caves with the children and the soldiers, guiding and supporting the physicians and nurses who cared for the children. He did this by listening to and honoring their perspectives.  His first-hand account does nothing less than revolutionize our notions about how children can recover from trauma and grow up to become self-reliant, productive adults.  His findings suggest that even when financial and technical resources are severely limited, it is possible to provide humane group care for severely traumatized orphans by applying basic clinical principles of child development.  In a word, this vivid and riveting memoir is a work of ethical depth and often lyrical beauty - a celebration of the human imagination, the human heart, and also a story of one person’s unfailing generosity and kindness towards children in a time of war.

Peter Wolff was a remarkable human being - a mentor, a polymath, a public intellectual who embodied honesty and trustworthiness, a person dedicated to redressing social and health inequities, a family man, a generous and a loyal friend, a person whose intellectual contributions were matched only by his deep humanity.  He was such good company.  Peter is survived by his children, Stephan, Tanya, Jan, and Niko, his four grandchildren, and his nieces and nephews.  Carol, his wife of 49 years, whose life was shaped by her love of music and devotion to her family, died in 2011.  Peter’s colleagues and friends from around the world will miss him dearly.   

J. Kevin Nugent