As one of IFFP’s four “founding mothers” (along with Stacey Katz, Laura Steinberg, and Mary Joel Holin) Irene has been a member since our beginning in 1995. She is a clinical psychologist in private practice (winding down), with interests in bereavement, trauma, and making meaning. She also writes creative nonfiction, under her maiden name, Irene Hoge Smith, and has published a memoir (the Good Poetic Mother, 2021, IPBooks) and essays in various literary magazines. Her writing interests include parenting a transgender adult child, women writers and artists and “mother-blame,” and the challenges of family illness and caregiving. Irene’s family of origin included Unitarians, Presbyterians, and Catholics, and her late husband, Ron Landsman, was Jewish. She has two adult children, Patrick Cavanagh of Pelham, Massachusetts, and Ezra Jane Landsman of Seattle, Washington, and two precious grandsons Samuel and Benjamin Cavanagh (also interfaith kids!).
Both as a psychologist and a writer she is deeply concerned about the current polarization of opinion and politics, and the ways vested interests can exploit citizens’ fears to fuel divisions. She is inspired by IFFP’s successful 30 years of “being both.” She lives in Garrett Park, Maryland, and enjoys gardening, cooking, and going to writing workshops in beautiful places.