Microsoft Word - 2. In memoriam.doc Europe’s Journal of Psychology 2/2010, pp. 7-10 www.ejop.org Editors’ note: In this issue, instead of our usual interview, we feature an “In memoriam” dedicated to Prof. Dr. Horia D. Pitariu (1939- 2010), valued member of EJOP’s Scientific Committee. In memoriam Prof. Dr. Horia D. Pitariu By Dragos Iliescu, Ph. D. National School of Political and Administrative Studies & Test Central Bucharest, Romania The mentor of Romanian I/O Psychology, Prof. Horia D. Pitariu, passed away on March 25th, 2010 He would have been 71 years on April 9th, only 2 weeks later. And I cannot help but think that he would have been 81 in 10 years from now, and no one is able to assess what further creations he would have given to Romanian and international I/O psychology in these other years – it’s only sure that he would have. The professional and teacher Horia Pitariu is a loss to our whole community, but it is the man Horia Pitariu some of us will miss most. His educational activity and his career as a Professor are closely linked to the name of the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, where he obtained his BA, MSc and PhD, under the guidance of Prof. Alexandru Rosca, and where he spent his entire career. During his career, he has received a number of attractive proposals to migrate to other universities, in other towns, but he has always remained faithful to the Babes-Bolyai University and to his city, Cluj-Napoca, which he loved with the unassuming and quiet pride of a true Transylvanian. His activity as a teacher has spanned five decades, with courses in psychology and related areas: Personnel Psychology, Ergonomics, Experimental Psychology, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, General Psychology, Statistical Methods in Psychology, Personnel Assessment and Evaluation, Human Resources Assessment, Human Resources Management. Europe’s Journal of Psychology 8 Even though he lived in a country where psychology was at best tolerated and at worst outlawed (for more than a decade, during the communist regime) and had to fight the stereotypes and ill-will of a time where communications with researchers from other countries, especially from the West, were a luxury Romanians could only afford at the price of intrusion in their privacy, he has had remarkable collaborations with researchers and Universities from all around the world. Prof. Pitariu was a fellow and grantee of IREX/Penn State University (1991-1992), and of the Institut fur Arbeit Physiology at Dortmund (1993-1994), having also intensive collaborations as Invited Professor with the Berkeley University (Institute for Personality Assessment), Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico; and the Work and Organisation Research Center at Tilburg (Holland). He has shared a respectful friendship for more than 40 years with such huge names of international psychology as Harrison Gough, Frank Landy, Edwin Fleishman, Charles Spielberger and others. As a matter of fact, he was recently very grieved by the passing away of his long-time friend and collaborator Frank Landy, and was writing an “In memoriam Frank Landy” to be published in Romania, which he never came to finish. Throughout his career he published 22 books in the area of I/O psychology, for one of them he received the Romanian Academy of Sciences Award (Human Resources Management: The Measurement of Professional Performance) and has published over 300 papers in Romanian and international scientific journals. During his career, he has been a member in the board or even editor-in-chief for many scientific journals, among others Psychology and Daily Life, The Journal of Psychology of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Human Resources Psychology, Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Test Validity Yearbook (USA), Psychologie du travail et des organisations (Switzerland). He was also a member of the Scientific Committee of EJOP. At the international level his research was published in top journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology among others. He was a member or fellow of many professional associations in Romania and internationally: the Romanian Association of Psychology, Association of Transylvanian Psychologists, The European Association of Cognitive Ergonomics, International Association of Applied Psychology, European Association of Psychological Assessment, European Association of Personality Assessment, European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, Association of French Language Work In memoriam Prof. Dr. Horia D. Pitariu 9 Psychology, American Psychological Association, Academy of Management, The Romanian Association of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He founded the Romanian Association of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (APIO) in 2001. APIO is the most active branch association in psychology in Romania, with intensive ties to the EAWOP and an active stance in the educational and business environment. The APIO, under the leadership of Professor Horia Pitariu, has succeeded in constantly promoting its important and high-impact projects, among others publishing its journal (Human Resources Psychology) and to have its annual conference, which is the foremost forum of discussion in I/O psychology in Romania. Aside from his dedication to the field of I/O Psychology, Professor Horia Pitariu has had a passion for psychological assessment in general and for psychological testing especially. His name will be remembered as probably the most prolific test creator and adapter in Romanian psychology, with a vision of providing for the use of Romanian psychologists all the internationally renowned assessments. His is the founder of Romanian efforts in test adaptation and his name is intertwined, as first author, or member of the project staff with such measures as the California Psychological Inventory, the Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (and the Eysenck Personality Scales), the NEO Personality Inventory Revised, the Big Five Questionnaire, the Adjective Check-List, the Self- Directed-Search, the Test of Motivational Orientation, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Job Stress Survey, the Fleishman Job Analysis Survey etc. This list could go on and on – suffice it to say that the last few years of his activity was more or less dedicated to tests and testing and in only 7 years he translated, adapted, developed norms, and published a number of 22 measures. But, truth be told, his favorite measurewas the California Psychological Inventory (CPI); even aside from his friendship with the CPI author, Harrison Gough, he had a passion for this inventory, comparable with the undying enthusiasm of a student on the brink of his career, and this passion has never diminished. . Professor Horia Pitariu was very fond of his career as a Professor. Of course, at the same time, he was a distinguished consultant and practitioner and has always believed that as a Professor one would quickly lose one’s grasp on the real work of real people if one would not practice what one preaches. An university career brings all kind of satisfaction, in Romania however such a career has never brought financial satisfaction, quite on the contrary. In spite of this, he never pondered with the idea of giving up his professorship. Europe’s Journal of Psychology 10 Students were fond of him, though his exams have always been a tough hurdle, most were not in a position to take from the first trial. But his unassuming, open and benevolent manner and his keen sense of humor merged into a personality that made him more likable, the more one worked with him. He was also fond of his students and respected them. As far as I know, in his entire career, he never missed a class. One day before being hospitalized and losing consciousness he had held his classes, and even on that very day, he wanted to go to the University and had to be pushed to visit a doctor, because, no matter how bad one feels, “my students are waiting for me”. Prof. Pitariu had a happy marriage of more than 40 years. His wife, Ana, a top scientific researcher herself (in natural sciences), has always been an incredible and stoic support for a busy and always travelling professor, overburdened by dozens of projects. His son, Adrian, has a successful career as researcher and professor in North America, having been a Fulbright scholar in the U.S. and holding now a position of Assistant Professor at the University of Regina in Canada. Romanian and international psychology suffered a heavy loss with the passing into eternity of Professor Horia Pitariu. His family, friends, students, and collaborators suffered an even heavier loss with the passing into eternity of the man Horia Pitariu. Those who knew him will always remember him as a mentor and a friend.