American psychoanalyst and lecturer who was a successful and popular pioneer of existential psychology. He authored a dozen books, including “Love and Will,” “The Meaning of Anxiety” and “Power and Innocence.”
May studied under the German theologian Paul Tillich who was his mentor and friend. May earned his Master of Divinity degree in New York in 1938 following his studies with Tillich. He was a Congregationalist minister for two years in New Jersey. Realizing his theological training did not adequately equip him to deal with his parishioner’s problems, he left the ministry and sought a doctorate in clinical psychology. While in his 30s, he was hospitalized for 18 months with tuberculosis during which he studied theology, psychology and existential philosophy. He said the experience of facing death helped him to face life and this insight developed into “Love and Will.”
A gifted therapist and writer, his works influenced many in the political and cultural movements of the civil rights Vietnam War era. May moved to Tiburon, California in 1975 and became an important influence among humanistic and existential psychologists. May, who coined the phrase “Age of Anxiety” in the 1950s, said in 1987 had become the “Age of Despair.” He said, “One word frees us of all the pain in our lives. The word is love. My theme is that human life begins on the far side of despair.” May was a visiting professor at Harvard, Princeton and Yale and toward the end of his life, lectured on the progressions of psychology.
May was married and divorced twice. He had two daughters and a son. He died in Tiburon 10/22/94.
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