Lawrence Pazder
| Lawrence Pazder | |
|---|---|
Obituary photo, Lawrence "Larry" Pazder
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| Born |
April 30, 1936 Edmonton, Alberta |
| Died | March 5, 2004 (aged 67) Victoria, British Columbia |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Psychiatrist |
| Known for | Participation in the satanic ritual abuse moral panic; co-author of the discredited book Michelle Remembers |
Lawrence "Larry" Pazder (April 30, 1936 – March 5, 2004) was a Canadian psychiatrist and author. Pazder is known for his discredited biography, Michelle Remembers, published in 1980, which he co-wrote with his patient (and eventual wife) Michelle Smith, and for his involvement in satanic ritual abuse coverage.
Pazder was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 30, 1936, and completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of Alberta in 1961. He went on to receive a diploma in tropical medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1962, practicing medicine in Nigeria from 1962 to 1964. Pazder returned to Canada in 1964 and completed his psychiatric training at McGill University in 1968. During his professional career, Pazder worked at two Victoria, British Columbia hospitals in addition to his private psychiatric practice. Pazder saw patients at his private psychiatric practice in Victoria up until his sudden and unexpected death of a heart attack in March 2004.
Pazder considered himself to be a devout Catholic. As part of his church activities Pazder founded the Anawim Companions Society in Victoria to provide a day home for people in need as a result of poverty. Pazder also had an interest in African religions and religious ceremonies.
Pazder and his first wife Marylyn had four children together and were married for many years until he developed a relationship with his patient Michelle Smith. Court documents filed in the divorce proceedings indicated that between March 1977 and June 1979 Pazder disappeared with Smith (co-author of Michelle Remembers) for lengthy periods of time. In 1979 after a rejected attempt at annulment, Pazder divorced his first wife and later married his former patient and co-author, Smith.
Pazder died in his home of a heart attack on March 4, 2004.
In 1973 Pazder first started treating a woman named Michelle Smith at his private psychiatric practice in Victoria. In 1976 when Pazder was treating Smith for depression (related to her having had a miscarriage), Smith confided she felt that she had something important to tell him, but could not remember what it was. Shortly thereafter, Pazder and Smith had a session where Smith screamed for 25 minutes non-stop and eventually started speaking in the voice of a five-year-old. Pazder eventually used hypnosis to help Smith recover memories of alleged satanic ritual abuse that allegedly occurred in 1954 and 1955 when Smith was five years old at the hands of her mother (Virginia Proby) and others, whom Smith alleges were members of a Satanic cult in Victoria. As Pazder believed he was on the verge of uncovering a vast satanic conspiracy, he eventually would spend many hours at a time treating Smith over a 14-month period. So convinced of the problem of satanic ritual abuse, Pazder and Smith travelled to the Vatican in 1978 to alert the Catholic church about the previously unknown dangers to children posed by Satanic cults worldwide. The chronicles of Pazder's therapy with Smith and the subsequent memories she recovered were detailed in the book that they co-authored Michelle Remembers. Michelle Remembers was the first published survivor account of alleged satanic ritual abuse and was a publishing success earning Pazder and Smith a $100,000 hard-cover advance and $242,000 for paperback rights.
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