EUGENE GALANTER

GALANTER--Eugene H.

Columbia University Emeritus Professor Eugene H. Galanter died of complications from cancer on November 9th. He was a veteran of World War II where he earned a Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Croix de Guerre with Palm, and Presidential Unit Citation. Returning from the war when the colleges were already over booked, he spoke to the head of the women's college, Bryn Mawr and convinced its head mistress to accept a small number of men at the school. He later transferred to Swarthmore to finish his degree, and attended the University of Pennsylvania for his PhD in psychology. Early in his academic career, he was recognized as an exceptional young man by Professor Stanly Smith Stevens who invited him to leave the University of Pennsylvania, and come to Harvard to work with him. Later he and colleagues George Miller and Karl Pribram were invited to join the prestigious group at the Center for Advanced Study, which was just getting started at Stanford University. While there they wrote "Plans and the Structure of Behavior" which launched a new psychology of cognition. He was a multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, who performed research for the FAA, NASA, NSF, U.S. Navy and U.S. Army. He was an author of 12 books. He was an entrepreneur having founded schools to teach computer training in the early days of computers, and founded a company to test children, which was such fun that the kids didn't know they were being tested. He and his daughter, Michelle hold a patent on Adaptive Evaluation Apparatus. Several other patents are pending. Professor Galanter leaves his wife, Patricia and daughters, Alicia Walton, Gabrielle Galanter, and Michelle Galanter. He leaves grandchildren Philip Walton, Theodore Walton, Margot Walton, Felix Walton, Roxanne Walton, Dexter Camara, Dashiell Camara, and Kalyan Reynolds.