It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved colleague and esteemed faculty member, Dr. Evan Imber-Black, who died on May 29, 2024. 

Evan was a world-renowned expert on family rituals and family secrets, presented frequent workshops here at Family Institute of Westchester and was the Program Director for the Marriage and Family Therapy program in the school of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Mercy University and taught there until her very last days. 

Evan founded the Center for Families and Health at Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City and the Urban Institute for Families and Family Therapy Training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She also taught at UMass Amherst and the University of Calgary.  She earned her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. 

Evan authored more than 80 papers and five books, including The Secret Life of Families, and Rituals for Our Times: Celebrating, Healing, and Changing Our Lives and Our Relationships (co-authored with Janine Roberts). She was a past editor of Family Process, the premier scholarly journal in our field.

She was predeceased by her husband, our colleague, Lascelles Black who died in 2022. In the end, she lived her life the way she wanted, and died on her own terms with dignity.  We will sorely miss her presence in our field and in our extended FIW family.

Evan’s family has asked that in lieu of flowers, a donation to World Central Kitchen, whose charitable work in war-torn countries around the world was one of her deepest passions, would be appreciated.