ABSTRACT
"Charisma” is a word often used—sometimes overused—in describing outstanding figures in their fields. However, I came across a recent gloss on the term from Chris Patten, currently Chancellor of Oxford University, Nina Coltart’s alma mater. He defined charisma as a combination of grace and authority. This, I think, captures exactly those qualities that Nina brought to her thinking, her writing, and her relationships with friends and colleagues . .. and in my case (and in Mike Sinason’s), to those she taught. We were both fortunate to have Nina as a supervisor for our first training cases. For myself, the foundations of my nascent identity as a psychoanalyst were firmly and robustly nurtured by her teaching, and my gratitude for the quality of her attention to my early stumbling efforts with my patient remains constant.
