David Bach

06/23/2004

David Bach, 81, of Sylvan Road died at home Wednesday, June 23, after a prolonged illness. Born in Breslau, Germany, on Feb. 26, 1923, son of Martin and Alice Gutman Bach, he escaped to England in 1939 through the Children's Transport, a Dutch organization that took children out of Germany. He lived with a family in Hastings, learned English, then worked as a toolmaker's apprentice in London. In 1943, he joined his parents in La Paz, Bolivia, for 15 years. He received a master's degree in science at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres. He came to the United States in 1957, and moved to Monterey in 1972. After moving here, Mr. Bach and his wife, the former Judith Kaplan Friedman, studied to become psychotherapists and, in 1975, opened the Berkshire Center for Psychosynthesis, which trained therapists throughout the Northeast. Psychosynthesis is self-realization through integrating various aspects of personality and experience and combines psychology with spirituality. They, along with therapists they had trained, opened another center in New York City. Mr. Bach also was invited to establish a training center in Germany, eventually starting three over a 10-year period, and did training in Zurich. During that period he wrote a book, "Give What You Didn't Get," which has been published here and in Germany. He had first worked for Ansco Films in New York City and later was vice president for Cyrus Eaton Jr., an export company in Cleveland. For two years, he worked as a meditation subject for the American Society for Psychical Research. Besides his wife, whom he married in 1986, he leaves a son, Rudi Bach, and three stepsons, Jeffrey Friedman, Will Friedman and Eric Friedman. FUNERAL NOTICE -- David Bach was noted for his warm heart, his sense of humor and his offbeat renditions (probably mythical) of Arabian proverbs. He also was a master storyteller. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to his favorite charity, the Center for Peace Through Culture, P.O. Box 506, Monterey, MA 01245. There will be a memorial service on Sunday for friends and family.BIRCHES-ROY FUNERAL HOME, 33 South St., Great Barrington, was in charge of arrancements.

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