Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Andrew Malekoff
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Andrew Malekoff died on March 28 (see for more details: https://jewish-funeral-home.com/andrew-malekoff/). Andrew (Andy) led Social Work with Groups for almost 30 years! In this role, he actively and effectively promoted social work with groups, made room for emerging writers, mentored countless authors, and was a responsible beacon of stability as an Editor.
As a contributor to Social Work with Groups early in my career, I always appreciated and noted Andy’s responsiveness and supportive Editorial leadership. I was familiar with his work long before I met him. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity for a long-standing relationship with Andy, but I certainly got to know him better over the course of 2023 as he mentored me to take over the Editorial responsibilities for Social Work with Groups.
I had no doubt that the journal was of vital importance to him, and he wanted to ensure a positive and effective transition. He really kept me on track over the year as he reached out repeatedly with resources and advice, and to set times when we could talk. I am so grateful that he did as it ensured my preparation as the transition occurred. Sadly, as the year went on, I could see that his health was in decline. However, he kept helping me as long as he was able to and beyond the point when many others would have dropped away. I wish I could have had his continued guidance but unfortunately this was not to be.
Andy had a long social work career within the field of children’s mental health specifically with the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, the leading children’s mental health agency on Long Island. He often wrote about his work in engaging and interesting ways that showed readers how to apply a strengths-based approach in group work with challenging and marginalized young people. His acclaimed book, Group Work with Adolescents: Principles and Practice (now in its 3rd edition) has been required reading for the students on my research team for many years. His social activism was evident in many other publications and writing venues. I always admired his fearlessness and honesty. Moreover, he was an instrumental figure within the International Association for Social Work with Groups, where he will be sorely missed by this community of group workers and scholars.
As news of Andy’s death spread, many reached out to me and used the following words to describe him: inspiring, incredibly authentic, wonderful, a man with sharp observations and a sense of humor, special, gifted, kind, compassionate, and dedicated to group work.
Shantih E. Clemans, Associate Professor at SUNY Empire State University in Brooklyn (and across New York State) graciously agreed to share some personal reflections regarding her important relationship with Andy. Her words are next.
Words in tribute to Andy Malekoff by Associate Professor Shantih Clemans
Like so many of us, I was feeling the wave of sadness over learning of Alex Gitterman’s death when the news came that Andy had died, too. I did not want to miss an opportunity to share what Andy has meant to me.
I first had the good luck to meet Andy in 2004 when I submitted my first manuscript for publication to Social Work with Groups. Andy’s clear, specific, and encouraging feedback on this first submission revealed early on to me what a special person he was – a true leader in fostering enthusiasm for and expertise in the practice of Social Group Work.
Over 20 years or so, I went on to write several more articles and reviews; I was always moved by Andy’s careful feedback, his obvious devotion to the journal, his dual commitment to produce a stellar publication and to nurture writers in their process of writing for publication.
It was because of Andy – his humanness, his sensitive approach, his thoughtfulness connected to anything “group work” - that I fell in love with and dedicated much of my writing and teaching focus to group work (and all the wonder and complexity it entails).
I will always consider Andy a mentor of mine – a person who guided me into writing for publication, and in due time, serving as a reviewer, a role I will always cherish because of Andy.
Andy – you are already missed!
Dr. Alex Gitterman
Dr. Alex Gitterman was a giant in social work and a long-time member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Social Work with Groups. Sadly, he died on March 24, 2024 (see for more details: https://www.ballarddurand.com/obituaries/alex-gitterman). Professor Gitterman worked at the University of Connecticut since 1999 and prior to that he worked at Columbia University School of Social Work. He was a major contributor to teaching and writing about group work especially the concept and process of mutual aid. He was also a past-President of the International Association for Social Work with Groups.
One of his most significant contributions includes the book, The Life Model of Social Work Practice, which is now in its 4th edition. When I took over as Editor-in-Chief of Social Work with Groups, Dr. Gitterman reached out via e-mail to offer support and good wishes. I was chuffed about this and shared it with a friend later that day who is also an experienced social worker. We chuckled about it as we had both been trained in the 1990s using his ecological model of social work, and I never expected to receive an e-mail from this esteemed person. Importantly, this small gesture from Dr. Gitterman helped me feel more comfortable about the transition.
I have read many tributes and comments about Dr. Gitterman since his death and it is obvious that he was a warm, engaged, and helpful person as well as an accomplished practitioner and academic. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to meet Dr. Gitterman in person or to work with him. Dr. Carolyn Knight, Professor Emerita of Social Work at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was a good friend and colleague of Dr. Gitterman. She generously agreed to share her reflections with us and her words are next.
In Memoriam by Dr. Carolyn Knight
He was such a wonderful, caring, humble human being. He contributed so much to so many. I know that we will continue to feel his presence in so many ways, but also mourn his absence in others. His impact was so widespread and yet so personal. I think many of us will be grappling with his absence for a long time.
These are the words of a group work colleague and friend, Shirley Simon, who shared her sentiments with me when I told her that Alex had died. I begin my reflections on Alex with this because it has been hard for me to put into words what he has meant to me and to the profession of social work generally and group work specifically.
I was introduced to Alex in 1985 when I taught my very first social work practice course, and I inherited the first edition of Carel Germain’s and Alex’s The life model. I loved the book! I quickly discovered that Alex and Carel were teaching me about social work as much as I was teaching students what it meant to be a social worker. A lightbulb went off in my head: I had been engaging in life modeled practice without knowing it. Carel and Alex provided me with a language and a conceptual framework that would forever guide my practice as a social worker.
Over the years, I attended many workshops that Alex led at professional conferences including what is now the International Association of Social Work with Groups. Alex excelled at conveying profoundly important information in a way that was funny, down-to-earth, and thoroughly engaging. Equally important, Alex taught those of us in attendance what it meant to facilitate a group and foster mutual aid not just by what he said, but what he did. He was humble, genuinely interested in hearing participants’ points of view, and encouraging us to learn not just from him but from one another. Akin to the essential benefit of group work, Alex’s workshops and teachings were empowering to all who attended.
I went from admiring Alex from afar to becoming his collaborator and, most importantly, his friend. He was always bursting with new ideas. He’d send me a rough draft of a manuscript and ask me to “run with it.” Despite his larger-than-life stature, Alex remained modest, encouraging me tell him what I really thought, and was always open to new ways of thinking. We had many “spirited” discussions, but we agreed that our final effort was much stronger as a result.
Over the years, we coauthored numerous manuscripts- often published in Social Work with Groups- on group work. While the topic varied, what remained constant was our belief in the power of mutual aid, something I learned about in that first edition of the Germain and Gitterman text.
One of the most gratifying experiences of my life was when Alex asked me to coauthor the 4th edition of The life model. My academic career had come full circle. I was now coauthoring the very text that so many years ago defined for me what it meant to be a social worker. I realized I was now in the role that Alex had been in all those years ago: Working side-by-side with someone we revered. For Alex, it was Carel, and for me it was Alex. We updated and expanded the book to reflect contemporary challenges and concerns. But with its roots in ecology and emphasis on clients’ inherent strengths and our essential humanity as social workers, Germain and Gitterman’s original conceptualization of life modeled practice generally and mutual aid groups specifically withstood the test of time.
I also had the great good fortune to work side by side with Alex when he was President of the Group Work Association. He was passionate about the modality and about expanding the membership of the organization as well as “spreading the word” to our social work colleagues regarding a modality about which we group workers felt so strongly. Alex led the organization with grace, humility, humor, and a genuine desire to be inclusive of diverse points of view and experiences.
I spoke with Alex via Zoom just four days before he had the final hemorrhagic stroke that took his life. He was back to being himself: irreverent, funny, charming, and full of life. He asked me to work on another manuscript with him, and we began to plot it out. We talked about our families, his profound gratitude to his wife Naomi, children, and the medical personnel who nurtured him back to health, and we planned a follow-up meeting. I will write that manuscript but will do so with a heavy heart, and Alex will be with me each step of the way.
Alex will never be far from my thoughts. He was quite simply one of the finest human beings I have ever known. I am a better person for having had him in my life. I will miss “Alessandro” (he fancied himself quite the Lothario) deeply and forever, but I am comforted by the fact that his work and his legacy will live on through his writings, his teaching, and the many lives he touched.
Final thoughts
The experience and process of loss can move us to a place where we reflect on our values, ethics, relationships, and the meaning (or lack thereof) in our own lives. Both Andy and Alex, despite their significant achievements, remained humble and inviting, and were engaged, curious, and active contributors to the end of their lives. When it is relevant, I ask the clients I work with what they want to be remembered for at the end of their lives. Almost all the time, the answers have to do with how we affect others. It is abundantly clear that Andy and Alex had significant positive impact on many people. They mentored numerous social workers, group workers, and others, and left their mark on people’s professional and personal development. They made the world a better place.
In an e-mail exchange with Dr. Barbara Muskat, the current President of the International Association for Social Work with Groups, she suggested the idea of a special issue of Social Work with Groups focused on what we (group workers) have learned from Andy, Alex, and another group work leader, Dr. Charles Garvin, who passed away earlier in 2023. I think this is a wonderful idea! Please contemplate contributing something once this call is issued later this year.
In conclusion, I offer my sincerest condolences to the families of both Andy and Alex. I hope the significant positive legacies they have left behind provide some comfort. They will be sorely missed.