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Tributes
Joan Berzoff, MSW, Ed.D
(1949-2026)
Deceased April 8, 2026 | Posted April 16, 2026
Obituary: https://gazettenet.com/2026/04/11/obit-joan-nancy-berzoff-211225074/
Tributes
Joan Berzoff died today in Vermont with "assistance" after a prolonged illness. She was my classmate at Smith and we maintained a collegial relationship for over 50 years, reuniting every few years at the AAPCSW conferences (and sometimes doing panels together). She was an important pioneer in psychodynamic social work and through her work at Smith and her publications she has had a major impact on our profession. She will be missed. See the attached obituary. There is a plan for a memorial event in September.
Sadly,
- Joel Kanter, Silver Spring, MD
Thinking back on my days as a fellow student of Joan's, I reflect on her (often biting) humor. One of her "bits" that I recall involved how we, as new MSWs, needed to cultivate our "empathy wrinkles". By this she meant the scrunching of our foreheads, as we uttered a banality such as "that must be very difficult for you.” We needed to perfect this before graduating with our MSWs. (Not sure how this works post-botox!) Any other recollections along these lines?
- Joel Kanter, Silver Spring, MD
Dear Joel, Thank you for letting us know this sad news. I am grateful that Joan was at the Austin conference and that I had the opportunity to have several warm and spirited conversations with her. She was devoted to our profession and to educating social workers. She will indeed be missed.
Warmly,
- Jane Abrams, Philadelphia, PA
Thank you Joel for sharing this. I, too, was thrilled to see Joan and attend her preservation. She was such an influence and she helped strengthen the field. I was very sad to hear of her passing. It was a beautiful tribute.
Warm regards,
- Cynthia Mulder, Houston, TX
Hi Joel. Thank you for letting us know about Joan. I knew her for many years. She used to supervise students at my agency, and I was frequently working with her on various projects related to the AAPCSW. Her work on bereavement and grief was innovative and clinically important. She was also just a wonderful person and a vibrant spirit, devoted to her profession and the people she worked with, as well as Smith College where she was an important member of the faculty of the school of social work. She will be missed, certainly by me.
Best,
- George Hagman. Stamford, CT
Joan was my clinical consultant at ICSW. I’m so sad to hear of her passing, but I’m honored to have worked with her and I’m glad I got to tell her before she left us. ♥️
Kind regards,
- De'Asia L. Thompson, Dayton, OH
Her life is a source of great inspiration for me and for generations to come.
- Natalie Peacock-Corral, Durham, NC
As an esteemed member and professional, Joan was a popular presenter with a large following at AAPCSW biennial conferences. While preparing for these conferences and working on another project, I had the privilege of being in touch with her, reading her articles. Based on her prolific writing, it is no surprise that Joan was the recipient of the AAPCSW Professional Clinical Writing Award in 2019. See this link: https://aapcsw.org/news/awards/recipients_03-30-2019.html#Joan_Berzoff Joan also served on the AAPCSW board. She will be missed. May her memory be a blessing.
- Penny Rosen, New York, NY
I am saddened to learn of Joan's death. Thank you, Joel, for keeping us in the loop and sharing the obituary. I knew Joan for many years, through Smith, AAPCSW and Sanville. Her involvement in Sanville was through an exchange of doctoral students between Sanville and Smith, initiated and paid for by funds that Jean Sanville left in her will. Joan gave presentations and served as a discussant to papers presented by students from both schools. She was an incredibly clear thinker and teacher, bringing complicated material alive. She blended clinical acumen with social justice issues and applied psychoanalytic concepts to marginalized communities. She brought vibrancy and innovation to the social work field.
I will miss her spirit and dedication. May her memory be a blessing.
Best,
- Lynn Rosenfield, Los Angeles, CA
We are very lucky in Baltimore, the Birthplace of Psychoanalysis in the USA, that Joan's son, Zeke, is now the President of the City Council. Her memory is indeed a blessing, and her legacy is alive here. We got to know Zeke through Joan, who was a professor and mentor of mine (as she was of so many others) at Smith, and he was *very* welcoming of AAPCSW when we had our biennial meeting in Baltimore in 2017. They call it Smalltimore but it really is a small world. Here is a link to Joan's obituary in the Baltimore Banner – “Zeke Cohen credits late mother with inspiring his political values” – (which has a number of great photos) that should bypass any paywalls: https://archive.ph/YxPWu
- Dan Buccino, Baltimore, MD
Thank you Joel for letting us know and for sharing the obituary. Joan had a large presence in our organization and was a bright and engaging person that I looked forward to seeing at our Conferences. She also had a presence with us here in California as a visiting professor with the Smith/Sanville Collaboration, where she would join our faculty and consult with our students. Her impact then, was nationwide, and she will be missed by many.
- Mario Starc, Oakland, CA
Joan Berzoff was my friend. Joan was also an esteemed colleague, a brilliant scholar and analyst; she was a loving wife, mother and grandmother as well as serving, as she did to many, as a mentor. And yet, above all, Joan Berzoff was a friend. A true friend, in this sense of kinship and trust. Joan was forever ‘present’, always attentively listening with a third ear, and truly interested in those around her. Her patience, curiosity, compassion and kindness were only matched by her uncanny capacity to explore things with profound depth and authenticity. Joan was a fighter – a ‘warrior’ for social justice, and for many of the things in which she believed, especially the love of life itself. We were friends and colleagues through her years in NY, Amherst, and later, when we would both teach alongside of one another, at the PhD Program at ICSW in Chicago, which was beloved by her.
Joan would do ‘battle’ with her illness with strong conviction, determination and ‘grit’ for many years. When we discussed each readying ourselves to present at the 2023 International IARPP Conference in Valencia, Spain, Joan would become gravely ill, yet again, and sadly, could not travel to Spain. Undeterred, and forever the ‘fighter’, she’d later tell me that, after her health rebounded, in 2025, with vigor and steadfastness, Joan presented that very paper, as we returned to the 2025 Biennial AAPCSW Conference in Austin, Texas, where Joan had one of her children and grandchildren residing. Joan was, indeed, a ‘warrior,’ a role model for me, and many others – a true social work mentor, quintessentially possessing those rarest of qualities of an ‘arbiter of social change.’ Joan’s contributions to the canon of psychoanalytic research and study on work with vulnerable populations, a pioneer in the area of our understanding of ‘intersectionality’ and its applications, and her writing and understanding of the work of ‘palliative care’ are all remarkable evidence of Joan’s lasting imprint on us all. And yet, above it all, all the accolades, awards, scholarly work and contributions, what I will remember most in Joan is her spirit - her deep capacity to see and allow others to be seen, with an abiding humility, authenticity and love that I shall remember and hold as a part of my own ‘internal chorus’ forever (T/Y Sandra Buechler). Joan Berzoff was one of those rarest of jewels that touch our lives. I am forever grateful. Thank you, Joan. Grazie. Gracias.
- Lou Pansulla, Philadelphia, PA, and Brooklyn, NY
