In Memoriam: Tom Kapacinskas

SOUTH BEND, IN – Thomas John Kapacinskas was born on October 31, 1941. He died on Friday, August 14, 2020.

Tom was educated at St. Bede Academy in Peru, IL and the University of Notre Dame, BA ‘63, JD ‘68. Tom completed a post-doctoral diploma in Analytical Psychology (Jungian Psychoanalysis) in 1972 at the C.G. Jung Institut-Zuerich. He taught the great books seminar from an archetypal perspective and courses in Jung’s psychology of religion at the University of Notre Dame from 1972 to 1979. He maintained a private practice in Jungian Analysis in South Bend. In 1975, together with the late June Singer of Chicago, Tom was a founding member of the Inter Regional Society of Jungian Analysts and their Training Institute, and in 1980 of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts and the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Tom lectured and presented seminars in the psychology of religion nationally and internationally, encouraging the development of the Lithuanian Jung Society in 1990. During his Notre Dame teaching years, Tom was chairperson of annual conferences in Jungian Psychology and its cross-disciplinary relevance.

Tom was a philosophical soul who loved reading, teaching, and seminars where ideas could be discussed. Besides Jung, Tom was deeply affected by the work of many other psychoanalytic luminaries over the years. Most recently, Tom sought to integrate the work of Rene Girard and his anthropology and Ervin Laszlo and his cosmology into therapy work and into seminars he presented. He was always mindful that each human being was in a terrible struggle for survival and, to the extent that he could, practiced kindness and compassion. He always hoped that his friends and family would cherish the wonderful experience of life.

Tom was the eldest of five sons of Joseph and Violet Kapacinskas (nee Gedraitis) of Oglesby and Kewanee, IL. He is survived by his wife, Judith Robert, and their two daughters, Sophia and Fiona Kapacinskas. From his first marriage, Tom is survived by his former wife, Kamilla Knutson, a son, Thomas Kier, and a daughter, Mia Lynn Martin and her husband, Eric Martin. From his family of origin, Tom is survived by four brothers, Jerome of Arroyo Grande, CA, Joseph Anton of Cedar Rapids, IA, George of Montgomery, TX, and Christopher of Sugar Land, TX.

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