Myron Sharaf

Myron Sharaf
Born	July 7, 1926 Miami, Florida, U.S.
Died	May 13, 1997(1997-05-13) (aged 70) Berlin, Germany
Education	Harvard College (B.A., 1949) Tufts University (M.Ed., 1953) Harvard University (Ph.D., 1960)
Occupation	Psychotherapist
Employers	Harvard Medical School Boston State Hospital Tufts University School of Medicine
Notable work	Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich (1983)

Myron Russcol Sharaf (July 7, 1926 – May 13, 1997) was an American writer and psychotherapist. He was a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, the director of the Center for Sociopsychological Research and Education at Boston State Hospital, and assistant clinical professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Sharaf was a student, patient, and colleague of Wilhelm Reich's from 1948 to 1954, and the author of what is widely regarded as the definitive biography of Reich, Fury On Earth (1983). He died of a heart attack in Berlin in 1997, after addressing a conference in Vienna marking Reich's centennial.

Early life and education

Sharaf was born in Miami, but grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Nathan Sharaf and Anne Russcol Sharaf. His father founded the Steaming Kettle Coffee Shop chain. His paternal great-grandparents, originally named "Sharafsky", were Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire. He obtained his first degree in psychology from Harvard College in 1949, an M.Ed. from Tufts University in 1953, and a Ph.D. in psychology and education from Harvard University in 1960.

Fury on Earth

A New York Times review of Fury on Earth: A Biography of Wilhelm Reich describes Sharaf as "intimate for more than 10 years as student, disciple, patient and colleague" of Reich. Paul Roazen wrote in The Psychoanalytic Review, "Myron Sharaf's Fury on Earth is far and away the finest book both on Reich's work and his life. It is a work of scholarship that may well, until the Reich Archives are finally opened, remain definitive on the subject."

Bibliography

• with Milton Greenblatt.
• with Milton Greenblatt and Evelyn M. Stone.

See also

• Life Against Death

Further reading

• Reich, Robbie. "Ode to a Therapist", extract from Breathe; also published in the Journal of Family Life, Volume 3/4, 1997.