On Christmas Day 2001, Dr. Tomatis passed away. A few days later, his wife Léna, who has supported her husband for many, many years, wrote an In-Memoriam in honor of her husband. The complete text is reproduced here in translation.

"That I May complete the mission which I was given"

Dear friends:

Those are the words that my husband used as the epigraph for his autobiography: “The Ear and the Voice.” It was in 1976.  Twenty-five years earlier, he had started this walk towards the light.  Twenty-five years later, he ends the race with a “sprint” that reaches the most intense pain.  He was in a hurry to experience peace in his body and soul, which had suffered so much during the last five years.

I was at his side at every step of the road that led him towards eternity.  I witnessed the immense mercifulness that he showed, day and night, enduring his ordeal without ever complaining and smiling in his deepest suffering.  I then remembered many of the reflections he used to express, when he needed them, since he himself was inspired by what he received from above.

With a humility imbued with the greatest simplicity, he never talked about “his discoveries” which he always considered as obvious.  For him, what he discovered was like manna from heaven, given to him since he was a child, to be transmitted to human beings.  His motto was: “Everything that is received should be entirely given.” This providential and miraculous nourishment sent from Heaven, he always placed at the disposal of others with a generosity that was appreciated by a great number of patients and students during their lives.

I used to say that he was always some 300 meters above the ground while I was having a hard time at ground level.  There were times though when I was able to take the elevator to join him on those heights where it was so good to live away from the depravities of this world.  There, we could chat about the future of all of those who were asking us to help them.  Tom never forgot those suffering from illnesses that he thought he could relieve.  The sense of his mission was always present in him.

He carried out this mission in a magisterial way, and I do not think that he departed leaving his mission unfinished. He spent his time on earth doing good to the poor and to the wounded in a very specific way.  With his mind sparkling with intuition, he was lead to alleviate the profound suffering of those who could not even express it.  In the midst of his life of work, he placed beauty in the service of good.  What he could do, what he needed to do, he achieved it, even beyond the usual human requirements, and in a spirit of solidarity that shows his extraordinary kindness.

This mission needs to be continued, since our society lacks the necessary tools to progress in various fields.  The techniques that we developed could be effective in fields such as medicine, education, psychology, art or music. The work that my husband started needs to be continued in a multi-disciplinary way so that it can be recognized by the institutions that could most benefit from his research.

I would like to emphasize his Faith, especially during those last five years of physical and moral pain.  Fortified by a trusting and peaceful Faith, he let God lead him through this final stage of total abnegation, which he accepted, allowing love to triumph in his wounded heart.  In a way that was hidden from most people, he lived the wisdom of the Cross, in an eminent manner.

In contemplating the universe, and first of all, listening to it, he not only passed on some techniques and theories but, most importantly, has conveyed to his students, his colleagues and his patients, a spirit of service nurtured by the love of one’s neighbor.

For him, it is the end of a pilgrimage which included times for his Way of the Cross, in order to finally achieve that “total listening” of the God he has been searching for all his life.

He left us on Christmas day.  It is a great ordeal to have to accept the death of a beloved husband, but on God’s part, what a beautiful day to come and fetch his child and give him birth into divine life.

Léna Tomatis

Translated by Pierre Sollier and Dr. Lucien Larre