Michael Z. Jody of East Hampton, a psychoanalyst and couples counselor, died on Feb. 19 in the care of East End Hospice of Westhampton Beach. He was 68 and had been ill with cancer for six weeks.
“Michael started out as a referral therapist for the Theodor Reik Clinical Center for Psychotherapy,” his sister, Nina Jody, said, “and then was self-employed in private practice as a psychotherapist with offices at the Washington Square Institute in Manhattan and in the Harold McMahon Medical Center in Amagansett.”
Mr. Jody was educated at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and had master’s degrees from New York University and the University of Michigan.
He studied at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis and earned a psychoanalytic license from the State University of New York.
“Michael loved everything life had to offer, including entertaining, cooking, eating, reading, poker, traveling, movies, music, Facebook, and many other pleasures,” his sister said.
For many years he was a regular contributor of book reviews to The Star, specializing in literary fiction and, as recently as August, thrillers.
Mr. Jody was born in Mexico City on Aug. 28, 1956, to Alexander Jody and the former Ruth Bergmann. He grew up in Manhattan.
In addition to his sister, who lives in New York City, he is survived by his brother-in-law, Robert Soloway, and a niece and a nephew, Sophia and Luke Soloway. He is also survived by his longtime partner, Leslie Harris, whom he referred to as “the love of my life,” and by her daughter, Evan Harris, and her husband, Hiroyuki Hamada, and their sons, Cosmo and Rock Hamada, all of East Hampton.
