Obituary: Juan José López-Ibor (1941-2015)
Authors: Norman Sartorius
Journal: World Psychiatry (2015)

In 1966, Juan José López-Ibor's father hosted the 4th World Congress of Psychiatry in Madrid. I listened to him speaking and was amazed by the width of his knowledge and the cosmopolitan style which he adopted with ease, while remaining harmonious with the traditions and culture of Spain. Juan José tried to emulate his father in the choice of his profession, in his international links, in the topics which he selected for study (such as psychopathology), in his loyalty to and work in the WPA (of which he became President on the thirtieth anniversary of his father being elected President) and in numerous other ways. He also admired his mother, an accomplished scholar and devoted mother to him and his eleven brothers and sisters, and a person whose wisdom continued to influence his later career and action. Yet, while trying to emulate his father, Juan José surpassed him. A unique and remarkable person, he made major contributions to psychiatry, to medicine in general and to science, established a worldwide network of friends and collaborators, and educated generation after generation of psychiatrists and medical students. Fluent in major European languages and superbly trained in psychiatry in Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain, he accumulated knowledge and experience about a broad variety of subjects, ranging from philosophy to ecology and from psychoanalysis to neuroimaging. He could speak about a great variety of topics, gracing the arrays of facts with anecdotes and personal views, making his talks resemble a Christmas tree with candles illuminating some of the branches and with many surprising adornments that made you want to hear more and more. All of these features gained strength and meaning from the humanism that was at all times a dominant determinant of Juan José's action and thought. He acted in consonance with his convictions and profound sense of justice, fighting for the rights or people with mental illness and against the abuse which they so often experienced. He did so with strength but also with a clear determination to improve the situation rather than stop at punishing those who were responsible for the situation that needed to be improved. A good example of the implementation of this attitude was the improvement of training programs for psychiatrists that resulted from the highly successful visit of a WPA group to China at the time of Falun Gong members’ complaints about the way in which the members of the sect were treated and considered mentally ill. His support and contribution to the development of the Madrid Declaration, which governs the professional behavior of psychiatrists, is another example of his commitment to justice and ethical practice of medicine. I had the pleasure of working with Juan José over many years – first while we developed collaborative ventures between the mental health program of the World Health Organization and Juan José's department (and his local and international network) and subsequently during many years of joint work in the WPA. The project of making the mental disorders chapter of the International Classification of Diseases (which he and his coworkers translated into Spanish) widely used exemplified Juan José's remarkable capacity to organize the translation of knowledge into practice. He made arrangements for the then new classification to be presented in a series of scientific meetings all over the country, ensured that printed copies were made available to all, designed training programmes in the use of the classification for different categories of mental health workers, spoke about it at various major professional meetings, both in Spain and in other Spanish speaking countries. The program was so successful that it became the model for the introduction of similar changes into practice in a number of other mental health programs in different countries. Several years ago Juan José was struck by an illness that did not respond to treatment and eventually took him away from us. He understood that the prognosis of his ailment was poor and that his days were numbered. His reaction to this realization was admirable. He continued with his work, attended scientific meetings, wrote about various subjects and above all retained his capacity to laugh and be jovial, pleasant in company and admirable in his abilities. His way of dealing with his illness was yet another confirmation of greatness given only to a few. It would be easy to list the many programs and projects in which Prof. López-Ibor played a major role and recall the topics of his many publications and presentations. I did not do this because I believe that the most important legacy that he left is that of being an example of a person who has reached the peak of professional capacity yet retained and continued demonstrating his humanism, sense of justice and commitment to ethical principles that should govern our profession. I shall miss him, not only as a model from which one can always learn and be inspired, but also as a good friend always caring and optimistic, courageous and witty, generous and thoughtful.