6th June 1949 - 24th January, 2021
Prepared by Professor Nancy Pachana FAPS and Dr Deborah Koder, MAPS
Professor Edward (Ed) Helmes is regarded as one of the pioneers in Australia of educating psychologists to work with older adults, having developed training programs in geropsychology at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia and James Cook University in Queensland. He also made significant contributions to research and practice in the field of normal ageing, psychological measurement and clinical work with older adults.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Ed attained his Bachelor of Arts (Honours), at the University of Winnepeg in 1972, followed by a Master of Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1973. His doctoral thesis examined a multidimensional approach to personality inventory responding (1978). He taught research methods and statistics at the University of Western Ontario, Canada from 1975, becoming an assistant professor in 1988.
It was his work as a clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist within several rehabilitation settings in Ontario that began Ed’s interest in ageing. Shortly after arriving in Australia as an associate professor, he introduced the first applied geropsychology training program in the country in 1996 at Edith Cowan University, Perth. This was followed by his appointment as Director of Professional Programs at James Cook University, Townsville in 2001. Ed developed and nurtured the postgraduate geropsychology program at James Cook University until his retirement in 2016. He continued to supervise postgraduate students and contribute to research, collaborating on a variety of funded research projects ranging from surveys of the prevalence of dementia in the Torres Strait to climate change and ageing in place. He was an honorary professor at The University of Queensland (UQ) from 2016-2019, having been a visiting academic at UQ on several occasions.
Ed made outstanding contributions to research and clinical training throughout his career, recognized at both Edith Cowan and James Cook Universities through numerous awards for research leadership and research supervision. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology in 2003, and a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) in 2007. In 2004, the APS Psychology and Ageing Interest Group established the “Edward Helmes Award for Student Conference Support” in 2004. (Ed was the National Convenor of the Psychology and Ageing Interest Group from 1997 until 2002.) In 2008, he was awarded the Alistair Heron Prize by the APS College of Clinical Psychologists in recognition of his work in the areas of adult ageing. The Faculty of Arts, Education & Social Sciences, James Cook University, awarded him their Research Performance Award in recognition of the most Higher Education Research Data Collection Weighted Publications between 2007-09. He attracted over $2.7million dollars of funding over his career, with over 200 publications published.
Ed was passionate about addressing stigma towards older adults and improving access to psychological services. His work in clinical psychology education and research spanned a wide variety of areas from psychological measurement, including neuropsychological assessment, to examining training of psychologists in aged care.
As a teacher he was patient, calm and always encouraging. His gentle humour, combined with honesty and integrity, endeared him to students, academics and clinicians alike. He is remembered fondly as a terrific colleague and collaborator by family, friends, the clinical and geropsychology community (both in Australia and internationally), former students and other colleagues. His contributions to the field, as well as the passion for older adults and gerontology that he instilled in others, particularly his students, will endure.
Ed is survived by his partner Mary Peterson, and his brother Robert and his family in Henderson, Nevada, USA.
Ed enjoying the birdlife in Paluma Range National Park, Queensland
Over the last years he celebrated many milestones, including his 70th birthday, with friends and his beloved pets. Ed was a great fan of science fiction, and was always keen to try new restaurants when out with colleagues at conferences. He was a keen observer of the natural environment in his home at Alligator Creek, Queensland, and was a wry observer of politics as well as the general state of the world. His support of any project or endeavour large or small, and his kindness, will be missed by all who knew him.