Samuel Kahn (1898-1981) was born in Novgorod, Russia; after immigrating to Atlanta, Georgia, he received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Emory University and served in the U.S. Army. A student of Sigmund Freud, Dr. Kahn practiced psychoanalysis and psychiatry. During his career, he worked at a number of institutions as a clinical practitioner, faculty member, and staff member. Amongst other institutions, he practiced on the staffs of Kings Country and Kings Park State Hospitals in New York, New York Country Penitentiary, Sing Sing State Prisons, and Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Kahn also served as the Chief Psychiatrist to the U.S. Army Induction Board for the States of New Jersey and Delaware. His academic appointments included Head of the Department of Psychology, Commerce University of the South, Clinical Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Georgetown and George Washington Universities, and Associate Professor at Long Island University.

Dr. Kahn was a leader of the Dynamic Psychological Society (DPS), an organization active in multiple locations in New York. As an extension of his work with the DPS and expertise in child guidance, he founded and directed the Quakerbridge School and Camp, a youth program in Ossining, New York. A prolific writer, Dr. Kahn authored over thirty books on psychotherapy during his lifetime.