Obituary for Klaus A. Schneewind October 19, 1939 – July 3, 2026

Prof. Dr Klaus A. Schneewind, born in 1939, has carried out pioneering work in the field of family psychology in Germany. After studying psychology and obtaining his doctorate (Dr. phil.) at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, he was appointed to the Chair of Psychology at the University of Trier in 1970. Seven years later, he moved to Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, where he held the Chair of Personality Psychology, Psychological Assessment and Family Psychology from 1977 until his retirement in 2008. A focus on families and close personal relationships runs through his work, which encompasses significant contributions to the assessment of family climate, child-rearing and relationships, as well as (relational) personality, and has also produced pioneering research in the field of longitudinal studies on familial socialisation, changing patterns of child-rearing, and life planning and family formation among young couples.

Particular mention should be made of the highly productive and wide-ranging research on socialisation and upbringing within the family context, which has shed light on both the strengths and the downsides of families. It was within this framework that the cross-temporal and intergenerational study on changes in upbringing was developed, which tracks changes in parents’ attitudes and practices relevant to upbringing longitudinally over a period of 16 years, whilst also incorporating a comparison between parents and their now adult children. His interdisciplinary collaborative project with the Department of Family Sociology at the University of Bamberg was also groundbreaking, focusing on the lifestyle choices of young married couples and issues surrounding the desire to have children. Consistently keeping pace with social change, he went on to conduct research into non-marital partnerships. In particular, his research into living kidney donations within a family context played a pioneering role, building bridges not only between sub-disciplines of psychology but also with the field of medicine.

Klaus A. Schneewind’s empirical research, as well as his comprehensive work on family psychology, were instrumental in the development and establishment of family psychology in Germany. In their teaching, he and his team succeeded in integrating educational and clinical psychology as well as diagnostics, enabling students to acquire highly practical skills for their future work in therapy or counselling. The development of the parenting programme ‘Freiheit in Grenzen’ (Freedom within Limits) was also particularly relevant to practice; through this, Klaus A. Schneewind translated the concept of authoritative parenting into the practice of parental education and adapted it specifically to different stages of children’s development. Last but not least, he was actively involved in policy advisory work and, as a long-standing member of the Scientific Advisory Council on Family Affairs at the then Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, played a key role in shaping many of the Council’s expert reports.

As the founder of family psychology in Germany, Klaus A. Schneewind was awarded the Hugo Münsterberg Medal by the Professional Association of German Psychologists in 2007. In 2013, he was honored with the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon.

With the passing of Klaus A. Schneewind, the Faculty of Psychology and Education and the Department of Psychology at LMU have lost a renowned psychologist who carried out pioneering work in the field and remained dedicated to academia well into old age. The Faculty commemorates him with gratitude, respect and appreciation.