Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D., Viennna, Austria, 1905-1997, was a celebrated neurologist and psychiatrist, and author of 32 books. Some forty years ago in his national best selling book Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Frankl advanced the idea that to have freedom endure, liberty must be joined with responsibility. To that end, he proposed that the “Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.” Man’s Search for Meaning is a personal account of his experiences in WWII Nazi concentration camps. The book has been translated into 28 languages and has sold over 9 million copies. The book is on the U.S. Library of Congress exclusive list of the “Ten Most Influential Books in America”. Frankl, a guest lecturer at 209 universities on all five continents, held 29 honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He received 19 national and international awards and medals for his work in psychotherapy and psychiatry. An avid pilot and mountain climber, Frankl was an inspirational speaker and believer that man can control his thoughts and attitudes and find happiness and joy in even the most awful of human circumstances. Dr. Frankl practiced what he preached while a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. Dr. Frankl was a professional who possessed the rare ability to write in a layman’s language. Dr. Frankl died in 1997. He is survived by his second wife Eleonore and their daughter Gabriele who together founded the Viktor Frankl Institute in 1992.

Dr. Frankl’s vision of two mighty “bookend” monuments standing on the East and West coast of America, speaking to the world of the need for liberty and responsibility in maintaining freedom, is now becoming reality.