Zoltan Wolf Gross was a psychotherapist for nearly 70 years, who was beloved by his patients (including Hollywood celebrities) and was a revered mentor to many therapists. His young mother brought him to America when he was less than a year old, traveling from Hungary to Liverpool and on the Cunard Line to New York. He was raised by a single mother during the Great Depression when he sold magazines on street corners to help make ends meet. He joined the Army Air Corps for World War II and navigated airplanes all around the world. Afterwards he returned to college on the GI Bill and became a clinical psychologist. He was a victim of McCarthy's witch hunts in the 50's when he lost his job at the Veterans Administration because he had subscribed to newsletters and attended meetings of groups with many different political and world views. He then started his private practice and was actively writing and seeing clients until the pandemic forced him into an early retirement at the age of 99.

Zoltan pioneered novel therapy treatments focusing on developing his patients' emotional skills in order to manage their dysfunctional behaviors. He wrote two books, A Portrait of the Person, and Changing Habits of Mind, where he proposed a neurological model of personality and revolutionary methods for psychotherapeutic change. He trained many other clinicians as a professor, seminar leader, group therapist and consultant on his unique ideas for helping patients.

He was perpetually young, always curious, playing with and teasing anyone he encountered. He loved to be provocative and challenged everyone about their habituated patterns. He also had horrible taste in clothes and loved what he called martinis, vodka, an onion, and the aroma of vermouth. He was a wise, thoughtful, and sometimes controversial man who confronted his own issues through the course of his life. He appreciated the complex beauty of humans and found a certain peace, appreciation, and joy in his work, his family, his garden, and a life fully lived. He passed away at home in the arms of his loving wife of 35 years, Patricia, on May 27th at 102 years young. Zoltan is survived by Patricia, his three sons, his stepdaughter, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild, all of whom he liked to tease mercilessly.

The family is asking everyone who knew and loved Zoltan to go to (and share with others) https://everloved.com/life-of… where you can share stories, upload photos, donate to causes that were near and dear to his heart and receive information about memorial services.

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