Mary Blum Devor was born in Montreal in 1927, grew up in Toronto, and now lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She was brought up speaking Yiddish, Hebrew and English at home. Her mother, who was born in Warsaw, was a Hebrew and Yiddish teacher, and her father was a linguist who spoke 13 languages. Mary Blum Devor completed her Master’s degree in psychology at the University of Toronto in 1950, specialising in child development. She has taught at McMaster University in Hamilton, as well as the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has had a distinguished career as a clinical psychologist for more than 50 years and continues her private practice to this day (2009).
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