David Armstrong obituary
David Armstrong, my colleague who passed away at the age of 91, spent more than six decades shaping the field of organizational psychodynamics. His ability to express complex ideas in simple terms allowed organizational psychodynamics to become a central focus of psychoanalytic thought. His skepticism and understanding helped consultants, entrepreneurs, and business leaders to understand the unconscious dimensions of work.
My colleague David Armstrong, who has died at the age of 91, spent more than six decades shaping the field of systems psychodynamics. With a rare ability to express complex ideas in simple language, he placed psychoanalytic thinking at the heart of organizational life, providing consultants, entrepreneurs, and business leaders with a practical language for understanding the unconscious dimensions of work. Born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, to Elsie (née Clarke) and Charles Armstrong, who were missionaries in what was then the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and later in East Anglia and Italy, David was a twin and shared a close early bond with his brother, Michael. David was educated at Culford school, near Bury St Edmunds, and went on to study philosophy, politics, and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1954, followed by two years at King’s College, Cambridge, studying psychology under Oliver Zangwill and later Larry Weiskrantz, an unusual combination that underpinned his later ability to bridge social theory and clinical insight.
