Jane Clifton Wagner PhD

October 11, 1930 - September 11, 2020

Jane Clifton Wagner PhD died peacefully at home with her family beside her on Wednesday, September 23,2020 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

Born October 11,1930 in New York City, Jane eventually settled in Los Angeles, and finally in Sebastopol CA.

No stranger to life’s challenges, she projected a quiet strength. She was committed to honesty, integrity, questioning of oneself, social activism and most of all, curiosity.

Jane earned her Bachelors in Psychology from Immaculate Heart College Los Angeles in 1968 and her Masters from Goddard in 1974. In 1983 she received her PhD from the Wright Institute Los Angeles.

Dr Wagner loved her work as a clinical psychologist. It was through her own experience that she learned not to focus on deprivation or failure, but to find empathy and compassion for the fragilities and failures. She had the innate ability to put aside her own feelings, not deny them but to identify them, finding the positive attributes and focusing on them to heal herself and in turn help others heal. Working with children, families, and individuals, Jane believed that most people intrinsically have the capacity to do the work to heal, to grow and to get better.

Her zest for life, her love of knowledge and books inspired her to teach challenged children to learn to read.

She was an activist for social Issues, leader of Women’s Consciousness Raising Groups, an advocate for the ERA and women’s rights. Jane held the belief that women must get out from under the Freudian concept of “Anatomy is Destiny” where women are viewed as “less than”, as objects, as subordinate, and submissive to their male counterparts. We are struggling with the same psychological concepts today. The door has opened, the glass ceiling has been broken. The work continues and women will take their rightful place as equals.

Jane adored theater, and loved music of all kinds, but her greatest love was her love for her children.

Jane was predeceased by her parents Patricia and Leon Clifton

She is survived by Joan Talmadge, her loving spouse of 39 years. Her daughter Amanda Kate Wagner, her son Joshua Kyle Wagner and Grandson Oliver Henry Wagner.