OBITUARY: Ema Geron (1920-2011)
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Ema Geron was born in Bulgaria in October 13. 1920 and passed away in Jerusalem,
Israel on March 11, 2011 at the age of 90. Ema began her academic career at the National Sport
Academy in Bulgaria. She served as an Assistant Professor (1948), Senior Assistant Professor
(1952), Associate Professor (1955) of sport psychology, and in 1967 was promoted to the rank
of a Full Professor, and became the Chair of the Psychology Department in the NSP, Bulgaria.
Ema was a pioneer in the sport psychology domain, which was just formally established, and
her books on performance psychology published in 1957, 1961, and 1965, were among the first
to introduce the newly-borne discipline to the world. During her service in Bulgaria, she has
established the first sport laboratory, which was aimed at studying the mental and emotional
components related to elite performance. Her scientific achievements were very well
recognized, and she became a member of the Ergometry and Gerontology Bulgarian Academy
of Science, and President of the Bulgarian Society of Sport Psychology, and Vice-President of
the Association of Bulgarian Psychologists.
In 1965 Ema attended the first congress of the International Society of Sport Psychology
(ISSP). The congress in Rome has exposed Ema to the small international community of sport
psychologists at that time. Following the ISSP congress, together with Svetlana Dimitrova, Ema
Geron organized an International Scientific Conference on the Problems of the Psychological
Preparation of Athletes in December 3-5, 1968, which took place in Varna, Bulgaria. In Varna
Ema and other European colleagues of her elaborated on the establishment of the European
Association for Sport Psychology. This idea was strongly supported by her. After writing the first
statutes for the society, the Fédération Européene de Psychologie des Sport et des Activitées
Corporelles (FEPSAC) was founded in Vittel, France, in 1969, and Ema Geron was elected as its
first President. She considered FEPSAC as "her baby," and navigated the federation through the
first stormy years, chairing altogether 10 Managing-Council-meetings until 1973, the ISSP
congress in Madrid. Moreover, Ema served the ISSP as a managing council member from 1968 –
1973 as a member at large, and then from 1973 – 1977 as ISSP Vice-President, and again as a
member at large from 1981 – 1985. Her international status was appreciated and recognized by
all delegates and scholars worldwide.
In 1973 Professor Ema Geron immigrated with her husband to Israel due to some
political problems her husband has encountered. Shortly after her immigration to Israel, she no
longer was considered as a representative of Bulgaria in various International forums, and was
forced to resign from all her duties, including the FEPSAC presidency. She was also expelled
from all her positions and duties by the Bulgarian organisation she has led and established. She
expressed her sadness of these moves to her close friends. Most troubling to her, and her
husband, was the fact that her son Ilia was prevented of joining them by the Bulgarian
communist authorities, and lived in Bulgaria few years until allowing joining his parents in
Israel. The reunion with her son made Ema and her husband very happy. Her immigration to
Israel was strongly supported by Dr. Gilad Weingarten (the first sport psychologist in Israel), and
the Mr. Yariv Oren, then the director of the Israel’s Sport Authority.
Upon arrival to Israel, Ema was the first to develop the sport psychology laboratory in
the Center of Research and Sport Medicine (currently named the Ribstein Center for Sport
Medicine and Research) at the Wingate Institute in the city of Netanya. Ema learned the
Hebrew language very fast, and became a prolific sport psychology lecturer in the Zinman
College. She established and was elected as the first President of the Israel Sport Psychology
and Sociology Society. In her work in Israel, Professor Ema Geron taught undergraduate and
graduate classes in sport psychology, motivation in sport, and motor learning. For many years,
her book entitled mental preparation for athletes (translated from German to Hebrew in 1976)
was used as the main source for her undergraduate classes. In fact, it was the first scientific
book on sport psychology published in Israel. Throughout her years at the Zinman College of
Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the Wingate Institute, she was not only involved in
teaching, but also in many research projects conducted with other staff members, as well as
with graduate students. She organized a number of international and national conferences in
sport psychology and motor learning in Israel, edited a number of books, and published
scientific and applied articles on sport psychology and motor learning (mainly in Hebrew). Ema
used to visit the library at the Wingate Institute on a weekly basis, searching for updated
articles and information on different issues in sport psychology, particularly on motivation in
sport. She did it for many years after retiring from the college at age of 65. During the last five
years, Ema Geron worked on her last book – Motivation in sport and physical education. The
book was published about two months before she passed away, at age of 90. Ema played a
major role in the establishment of sport psychology and motor learning in Israel. She
stimulated many students to continue their education in these disciplines, and was very happy
to see them working on research projects associated with psychological aspects of sport
Ema kept her international involvement by serving as the liaison of the American
Academy of Physical Education (currently the American Kinesiology Academy), and the
International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP). For her major contribution to the field
of Sport and Exercise Psychology the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) has
awarded her the ISSP Distinguished Scholar Award in 1993 during the ISSP world Congress in
Lisbon, Portugal; an honor given to only 5 scholars since the establishment of the society in
1965. Her attendance in the ISSP congress was among the last opportunities for her old
colleagues and former students from all over the world to meet her again, and share with her
their news and accomplishments.
Ema’s scientific work centred on psychological preparation of athletes for competitions,
concentration and volition, and psychological characteristics of athletes as a function of sporttype; all of which were considered mile-stones for the newly established domain of sport
psychology. Her research on gymnastics with a special focus on female athletes may be
considered as the dawn of the gender perspective in sport psychology. She published several
textbooks in English, for example, Children in Sport, and Introduction to Sport Psychology.
Despite being retired, Ema Geron did not stop being very active. Shortly before she died she
saw the publication of her book in Hebrew, Motivation for Physical Activity and Sport she wrote
together with Shulamit Raviv and Ronnie Lidor.
On March 11th 2011 Ema left us surrounded by her friends, and also her son Ilia was
with her. We, and many others who know Ema, feel sadden for loosing a very unique person, a
strong woman in the mainly male dominated sport psychology world at that time, a great
colleague, and especially a nice and gentle friend. FEPSAC, ISSP, IAAP, and all of us, sport
psychologists, psychologist, and friends will remember her fondly and with a deep respect. She
will be remembered as a great woman who left a great legacy after her. Let her rest in peace.
Gershon Tenenbaum
Ronnie Lidor
Michael Bar-Eli