“I do my best to be in the light. I don't think the dark can be avoided. It's real and there. I try to find moments of beauty and love and at the same time not turn away from what is painful.”
Lisa Herman, writer, therapist, actor, teacher, beloved wife, mother, sister, grandmother, friend, died after a sudden and severe illness on June 10, 2024.
Lisa was born in Los Angeles to Nina Klowden, a noted radio actress at the time, and George Herman, a Canadian recently demobilized from the RCAF. The family had to move to Toronto due to McCarthyism as Nina lost her job and George was threatened with deportation. Lisa grew up there, with her younger brother Paul and little sister Didi.
As a teenager, Lisa developed a strong attachment to Israel and spent a year on a kibbutz — while she was there, George died, at the age of 46.
Lisa did her BA at York University’s Glendon College. She had an early passion for acting, and was involved in university theatre productions, where she met some of her dearest, life-long friends.
In 1969, Lisa moved to Berkeley, acquiring a Master’s degree in counselling at Cal State Hayward, and to work with a disciple of Eric Berne, the founder of Transactional Analysis. She started her career as a therapist there, and she continued her therapy practice until shortly before her death. Lisa devoted much of her professional life to psychotherapy, helping clients in all walks of life, both individually and in groups.
Lisa also continued throughout her life with her love of acting, in political and alternative theatre companies, and in the films American Graffiti and Magnum Force. Most recently, she appeared in a production of The Vagina Monologues at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.
In 1974, Lisa moved to Los Angeles where she met her husband, architect Alan Kanter. From 1975 to 1978, Lisa and Alan were instrumental in co-developing and acting in the performance piece Survivors under the direction of Armand Volkas. The play, exploring the current generation’s response to the Holocaust, was seminal in their decision to make aliyah to Israel and work for peace. In 1977, Alan and Lisa had twins, Beni and Sarah, and in 1978 the family moved to Israel where they lived for 10 years. Lisa always believed there could be a peaceful solution and described herself as ‘pro-Israeli’ and ‘pro-Palestinian’. Her therapy practice and prison work in Israel was with Jewish and Arab communities. While in Israel, she also translated into English Shiviti: A Vision, by Ka-Tzetnik 135633.
In 1988, the family moved to Toronto, where Lisa again built a therapy practice, published two novels, Bourgeois Blues and Border Crossings, and, in her 50s, earned a PhD, writing her dissertation on how images of evil, particularly Holocaust representations, are experienced by those not directly affected by the event. Her PhD was published in 2009 and she went on to publish numerous academic pieces on trauma and expressive arts therapy.
Lisa and Alan ended up back in California, and eventually the Bay Area, where Lisa built a new practice from scratch again, and had yet another career as a teacher at several universities and psychotherapy training institutions. At the age of 73, true to her life-long sense of adventure and her pleasure in new challenges, Lisa joined an international theatre company, travelling to Ecuador to work with local communities. She also began writing a memoir.
Lisa was an intensely curious person, always asking ‘why’, always wanting to understand everything.
In her own words:
“I like stories. I like other people's stories. I like changing stories around and mixing up the pieces. I like asking 'Why?' and 'Why?' over and over. And of course, 'Why not?' I wonder how people think — me too. I like groups of people together making art, like theatre. I like the intimate relationship of therapy and trusting so we can be ourselves, the parts we know and don't know. I like to help others find out about more parts of themselves so they can help more people do the same. I like acting in shows. I think by making art we can inspire social action out there.
I want to change the world and save the planet. I believe communities searching and creating artfully is the way to do it.”
Despite the shock of her final illness, Lisa died peacefully, in control of the process, as she wanted to be, still displaying her dry sense of humour.
Lisa is survived by her husband Alan, her children Beni and Sarah, her brother Paul and sister Didi, her grandchildren, Elijah and Judah, and many much-loved friends and family.
If you can, please make a donation to a charity/NGO of your choice in Lisa’s name.
