An Austrian psychoanalyst who taught in the psychiatric section of Philadelphia Jefferson Medical College, Robert Waelder was born on February 20, 1900, in Vienna, and died on September 28, 1967 in Broomall, Pennsylvania.

He was the son of Joseph Waelder, a Jewish merchant. After graduating from Maximilian gymnasium with honors in 1918, Waelder entered the university and in 1921 obtained a doctorate in physics.

At the age of twenty-two, Waelder consulted Sigmund Freud about treatment and, following his advice, he started a personal analysis with Robert Hans Jokl; he subsequently underwent training analyses with Hermann Nunberg and Anna Freud. In 1924, Waelder became a member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, where he performed a variety of functions as librarian and as a member of the candidate committee. From 1932 to 1939, with Ernst Kris, Waelder edited Imago, becoming that journal's editor-in-chief in...