STEPHAN L. CHOROVER Ph.D.

Chorover, Stephan L. PhD Beloved husband, father, grandfather, and Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died Friday morning February 20, 2015 at his home in Jamaica Plain, MA. Joining the MIT faculty in 1961, Chorover and was one of the founding members of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (formerly the Department of Psychology). Instrumental in creating the department's first academic programs, he taught and mentored thousands of undergraduate and graduate students, for over 50 years, with a passion for social justice, innovation in educational practices, and a love of philosophical inquiry. He retired in 1998 but continued teaching students for an additional 15 years. Chorover graduated from Bronx Science High School (1950), received his Bachelor of Science from City College of New York (1955), and PhD in Neuropsychology from New York University (1959). Trained as a physiological psychologist, Chorover focused his early research on learning and memory in animals, and interactions between the brain, human behavior, and socioenvironmental contexts. Later in his career, he became a proponent of collaborative learning in higher education, and built that perspective into his teaching at MIT. He sought to enhance his students' understanding of the human and ecological implications of their scientific research. He was a strong advocate against the misuse of neuroscience as means of sociopolitical control, which he explored in his book, "From Genesis to Genocide: The Meaning of Human Nature and the Power of Behavior Control." He was active in social justice issues throughout his life; worker's rights, civil rights, environmental awareness and peace. He was born and grew up in the Bronx, and married his life-long love, Bea Feinstein, a social worker, in 1954. They were married for over 62 years. He and his family lived summers on Mount Desert Island (ME), in a home that he and Bea designed and had built, with winters spent in Jamaica Plain, MA. He was a loving, constant supporter and advocate for his wife, children and many friends, beloved by those who had the pleasure to live, work and study with him. He is survived by his wife Bea, and three children: Nora (and partner Steve Cooley), Jon (and wife Gina Gargano), and Katya (and husband John Grandt); as well as four grandchildren, Talia, Nathan, Sarah and Annaluna. A memorial will be held in the MIT Chapel on March 14, at 12:30 pm.