Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Paid family tribute

John Heider died in his Lawrence home on May 26, 2010.
He was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, on November 7, 1936, and moved to Lawrence in 1947. He graduated from Harvard College in 1960, and he was awarded a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University in 1968. He returned to Lawrence in 1971-1973, then again in 1987.
He served in the Massachusetts National Guard after training in the tank corps of the U. S. Army. He worked at the Veterans’ Administration and the Menninger Foundation in Topeka. For one of his many jobs he worked at the Jayhawk Theatre, now Liberty Hall, in the summer of 1951.
John Heider is a seminal figure in the Human Potential Movement. He worked at Esalen Institute, founded the Human Potential School of Mendocino, and led personal growth and training groups for over 40 years. He wrote The Tao of Leadership in 1985; since then it has been translated into 10 languages. This was followed by The Tao of Daily Living in 2000.
John is survived by his wife, donna luckey; his brothers, Karl Heider and Stephan Heider; his daughters, Cynthia Cushman of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and Dove Heider of Oak Park, Illinois; and his son, Fritz Heider II of Lawrence. He was predeceased by his daughter, Elizabeth Clark. He has 10 grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. His parents, Fritz and Grace Heider, both taught psychology at KU.
Rather than flowers please consider donations to the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen (LINK), Warm Hearts of Douglas County, or a similar organization in your own community.

This information was provided to the Journal-World as a paid tribute.