Malcolm H. Robertson obituary

Malcolm H. Robertson, professor emeritus of psychology at Western Michigan University, died Feb. 28 in Laguna Woods, California. He was 90.

Robertson joined the staff in 1961 and retired in 1998 after 37 years of service. During his WMU career, he served as director of clinical training from 1965 to 1987, consulted for local organizations, ran a private practice for more than 15 years and served twice as a Peace Corps field assessment officer.

Malcolm Robertson

A licensed psychologist, Robertson was an expert in counseling and psychotherapy, anxiety and mood disorders, and training psychotherapists. He taught courses in individual, group, marital and family therapy as well as directed dissertation research and served on the Clinical Psychology Training Committee.

His scholarly writings included authorship or co-authorship of four books and more than 50 scholarly articles for leading counseling and psychology publications. He served on the editorial board of Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice and Training and was an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Robertson was a fellow of the American Psychological Association's Division of Clinical Psychology, APA's Division of Psychotherapy, and a charter fellow of the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology.

Other credentials included selection as an American Board of Professional Psychology diplomate in clinical psychology and listing on the National Register of Health Service Providers. Robertson also was a member of APA divisions 12 and 29, the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration and the Western Michigan Psychological Association.

Robertson received the latter organization's Outstanding Psychologist of the Year award in 1977, 1982 and 1988.

Starting in 1955 prior to coming to WMU, Robertson taught at the universities of Mississippi and Florida as well as served stints as a staff psychologist at two veterans hospitals. He earned a bachelor's degree in humanities from the University of Minnesota in 1948, a master's degree in clinical psychology from George Washington University in 1951and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Purdue University in 1955.