Cecil Holden Patterson
June 22, 1912 ~ May 26, 2006
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
Professor Cecil Holden “Pat” Patterson, 93, of Asheville, left his physical body on Friday, May 26, 2006, at his home.
A native of Lynn, MA, he had lived in Asheville since 1978 and was married to the late Frances Spano Patterson who died in 1966. He was a professor of Educational Pschology at the University of Illinois and at UNC-Greensboro. A veteran of WWII, he worked as a psychologist with the Veterans Administration during and following the war.
The author of numerous books and articles used world wide, he developed groundbreaking theories of counseling and psychotherapy. He was the recipient of the prestigious Leona Tyler Award and the Donald Biggs-Gerald Pine Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award and was the president of the American Rehabilitation-Counseling Association in 1962-1963.
He became an icon of downtown Asheville as the maitre d‘ at the Uptown Café until the age of 90.
He is survived by his seven children, Joseph, Francine, Jenifer, Christopher, Thomas, Mary Victory and Charles as well as six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A celebration of his life will be held at 6:00 pm Tuesday at the Jubilee Community Church on Wall Street with the Rev. Howard Hanger officiating.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Gorilla Foundation, 1230 Edgewood Road, Redwood City, CA 94062 or www.koko.org.
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My condolences to the family; Pat was surely a sage. Rogers would have been proud of him. Maybe they will connect on the other side.
Jere Moorman
To Pat’s family,
Thanks to Venus Pinnix, Administrative Assistant in the UNCG Department of Counselor Education, I just learned of Pat’s death. I was deeply saddened by the news and regret that I’m only now learning of our loss. My late husband, Nicholas, worked very closely with Pat, whom he respected most highly. It was through their association and friendship that I, too, came to know Pat and of his outstanding professional contributions. I know the UNCG Counselor Education faculty felt most fortunate to have him as one of their colleagues.
It’s been a few years since I last saw Pat, but I have fond memories of our visits with the last one being at the restaurant in Asheville. Can’t think of him without also seeing his profile in a tux by the restaurant door and the big smile that came to Pat’s face as we talked about it. He seemed to really enjoy that particular retirement role.
He will be missed by many students, colleagues, and friends. I feel fortunate to be included among the latter.
With deep sympathy,
Nancy N. Vacc
Professor Emeritae
Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction
UNC Greensboro
Dr. Patterson’s ‘Maslow on Self-Actualizing Persons’ has been for me a wonderful place to visit and recieve validation for my own uniqueness and creativity. I only hope that I might affect others as postively as he has and will continue to do so. My web site lifejones.com will always honor him with a link to his, ‘Maslow on Self-Actualizing Persons’. Thank you
My condolences to all the Patterson family during this time of great loss. Shall we always be family, as love for family is what I feel is Pat’s greatest legacy of all. His love was unconditional. A lesson we can all learn and pass on to future generations. He will be greatly missed. Please keep in touch everyone.
Love you all,
Robbin
My heart goes out to the family and friends of this dear person whose life work and writings are there for all to note – and whose spirit will remain with us through his collected works, which I am eternally grateful for – as well as the generous nature he preserved in sharing this with all any any interested parties! A rare and wonderful teacher, scholar, counselor and friend. May he be blessed as he has blessed us!
Love and peace,
Elizabeth Sarfaty, M.Ed.
thank you for your wisdom and good will.
Joseph Patterson and family:
We are sharing in your sorrow more than words can say.
Please know how very much you are cared about and how deeply your loss is feld by all at Northrop Grumman
Although I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Patterson, I have read many of his books and articles and always appreciated his way with words. He will be missed.
I give my regards to his family.
Rest In Peace
You seem to have been a good man.
Hi Dr. Penny,
This is a bit belated but I wanted to give you and your family my sincere condolences on the loss of you father. We lost my husband’s step dad on May 6th so understand what you are going through. From reading the different stories of your father it sounds like he was a very special man and well loved by the community he lived in. Take care and good luck with the construction of the Maui Preserve. Give Koko a big hug and kiss from me. I look forward to seeing new photos of her whenever possible.
Dear Barry, Jennifer and all the Patterson family,
We loved Pat and his unique gift to Asheville in retirement. Anyone who had the opportunity to know him was touched by his gentle spirit and smile. I am sorry we were not able to attend the Jubilee celebration of his life – I know it was filled with special memories and joy. Our prayers are with his loving family. May God bless you and bring you comfort in your loss. Bonnie and Bob Scully
I am the grandson of Dr. C.H. Patterson. His youngest son Charles (Chuck) is my father. I was searching google to find some of his work and came up with tons of pages with his teachings in them. He was an amazing man. There were very few times he was not at the baseball field cheering me on, even in his last few months he was there in his wheel chair. After every game I would go give him a hug, thank him for coming, and see where we were going to dinner after I got changed. And every time he would say, ‘Great game! Your wonderful Honey!’ no matter what the outcome of the game was. He was the BEST! Always will be. I Love You Grandpa!
Dr. Patterson,
Very dear and special person, passionate,wonderful teacher,a family man, my great adviser and superviser.
For sure,he will always be remembered by his students,colleagues,scholars ,psychologists and counselors.
My condolences to his family.
What a lovely inspirational person. He did a residential on my CCP programme in Ilkley some years back.
He made the theory so simple…
example:
Session planned on Transference and Counter-transference.
Session starts:
Pat ‘ So you all want me to give you a session on Transference and Countertransference from a PC Perspective ? Here we go
They don’t exist!!! ‘
End of session!
A great guy who was generous in his time and his sharing …and that great sense of humour!’
I will remember you with Joy
One evening, perhaps 10 years ago, I was in downtown Asheville having dinner at the Uptown Cafe, my first visit to the restaurant.
We noticed a gentleman having dinner alone, and invited him to share our table, which he cheerfully did. After a time, still clueless as to who was dining with us, my companion made a comment about a photo of Koko with a kitten, hanging next to our table. She said ‘that’s Ball,’ and he quietly corrected her, and said ‘no, that was Koko’s next kitten.’
‘Are you sure?’ she asked.
‘Pretty sure…’ he said, and he introduced himself. What had been an already fascinating dinner became that much more special, and I’ve cherished the memory of having dinner with such an amazing person ever since.
My own mother passed early last year, and I so know how it must feel to lose your father. But just as I took comfort in knowing that my mother influenced countless students during her teaching career, I hope you can take comfort in knowing that Dr. Patterson made a huge impact worldwide.
I know he did at our little corner booth in the mountains.
I have just learned of the passing of this extraordinary man, who was a mentor of mine when I was becoming a psychotherapist. His influence was profound, and continues today. As I have had opportunites to clinially supervise other therapists, his teachings and philosophy have been the cornerstone in our continuing development. Pat will be missed awfully, but his legacy remains robustly alive. I am most fortunate to have had him as my clinical supervisor and later, mentor, and I know that there are many among us who feel called upon to carry on in his huge footsteps. The world truly is a better place for having him dwell among us.
Remembering Pat’s kindness to me when I first joined the pca listserve several years back, and grateful for his generosity with regard to his knowledge and his papers. rest in peace, Pat. love Maureen x
It was apleasure to me a collegue of Pat\\\’s. In my Western Carolina University graduate class – Advanced Theriies of Counseling (and of course we used his text)- he would guest lecture 3-4 times. He would start class with a \\\\\\\chasing rabbits\\\\\\\’ excerise that allowed students to ask him to facilate their undrstanding of the theorists. My stduents loved him. A great man a great gentleman!
My only memories of Pat are from the listservs to which he contributed greatly. I always appreciated his words and thoughts, succinctly expressed – valuable and meaningful on both personal and professional levels. A great life …
Gratitude is the thought that comes to mind for Pat’s generous spirit in sharing his work and knowledge with all and any interested. His contributions to this world are real
and many in a way that means to make our planet a safer place for all.
He is a rare individual and I am grateful for the personal contacts he maintained until rather recently.
This is a life well lived, as well
as an inspiration to the future. I am grateful for having been a recipient of his profound contributions, and especially so with relation to his work on LOVE.
With sympathy for the family for such a loss,
Rev. Dudley E. Sarfaty, H.R.
Presbyterian Church, USA
Thank you …
Just wish to express my sincere thanks for his welcome interest and willingness to share his thoughts and feelings. I value the video’s of ‘Pat’ very much, so too do my students. My heartfelt condolences to all who will miss his insight, wisdom and warmth
Cecil Holden Patterson was one of the greatest men the world has known, and I sincerely hope that he will always be remembered as the one that did his best to make the world a better place for one and all!
I do not know how not to be personal and I do not know how to remain formal
I was thinking about Pat these last few days. He had been silent too long. Pat became a very special person to me.
Three days after I arrived in an internet network related to the Client-Centred Approach of psychotherapy, Pat wanted to know me better. We had since remained in touch and having private email contacts together from time to time, this for two years. His last email to me moved me so much that I wanted to go to his sides and care for him, as he had been so caring to me all this time, always supportive, sending me materials, despite the distance in between us, he remained very present. Pat was smart and ever so generous and kind. In my heart, I considered him a friend, a guide, and a father in many ways. I miss not having said good bye to him, and him to me.
This is with three candles and scents that I am now sending my farewell to Pat in respect to his wishes.
All my condoleance to his close family
Tearfully,
Valerie Bowley-Claudel
I met Pat in 1958 when I was a psychiatric rehabilitation counselor in Illinois.I had the opportunity to have several of his interns work with me. Pat was a prolific writer who has classic contributions in areas ranging from rehabilitation counseling to psychotherapy to education. He received many accolades and much recognition. However, Pat felt, as I do, that he never received due recognition for his writings in client-centered therapy. Many of his writings are jewels of wisdom for client-centered therapy but infrequently cited in major works on client-centered therapy. I meant to share with him a sentence that I recently wrote in a book chapter still in press. I appreciate the chance to share it with his friends and loved ones:
‘Other than Rogers, C. H. Patterson (1948, 2000), although not a colleague nor student of Rogers, was the most prolific author of client-centered therapy theory for nearly sixty years.’
Pat was pessimistic about the state of the world the last time I heard from him. I feel certain, however, that we are better off from C. H. Patterson’s presence in the world.
I was just informed this morning of your father’s passing. C.H. and I were very good friends. I assisted him during his tenure at UNC-Greensboro and continued to stay in touch with him. We shared emails, exchanged cards at Christmas, and kept one another up to date on the lastest diabetic discoveries/treatments! I always looked forward to hearing from your father and what he had been up to! He was a most remarkable man and his presence here on Earth will be sorely missed! Please know that you and your family are indeed in my prayers as your lives continue to adjust to his absence!
Fondly,
Venus
I had the pleasure of knowing and working with ‘Pat’ at UNCG for several years, and enjoyed that opportunity. He was a major contributor to the field of counseling, and will be missed.
Pep, Penny, Jenny, Chris, Tom, Vicki & Chuck—Our thoughts are with you and your families during this time of loss. May you bring each other peace and comfort as you celebrate Pat’s life.
Pam & Mike Holcombe
To all of my Patterson cousins,I am so sorry to hear about Uncle Cecil’s death. I enjoyed conversing with him by email the last few years.
There is one special memory I have of Uncle Cecil. I had finished college and was just beginning my teaching career. One day, a package arrived. It contained copies of his books and a nice message of congratulations and good luck.
I shall miss him, and my thoughts (and those my mom, his sister, Eleanor) are with all of you at this difficult time. Love, Pam
Just now learned of his passing. C.H. was my doctoral dissertation advisor as the University of Illinois. He was a role-model leader. He spoke quietly but carried a big stick. He was kind and gentle and totally walked his talk. I attended U. of I. from 1975-7. In those years we had a weekly class in his home. When Penny came home for vacation he beamed. He was proud of all his children for they each made a contribution to the quality of life on our planet. He spent an entire session explaining how Francis (Penny) would teach an orangutan to sign and what a breakthrough it was. Both of my children, my 32 year old and my 28 year old were taught particulars of this. Cecil was a much beloved man. I am glad my children can get to know him from my stories and his legacy. Glad he made it to Asheville and thrived there.