Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology

The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology has created this website as a way to remember and share memories of
Don Peterson, former Dean of GSAPP.

Don Peterson was our first dean and the man who initiated the PsyD degree.

He was a wonderful colleague and friend, superb scholar, fine teacher and excellent administrator.

We extend our sympathies to his family, especially his wife, Jane, and to his children.

Memorial Information | Memorial Fund | Accomplishments | Home

Date:	1-02-2008 07:03 PM
Name:	Luis A. Guerreiro, Psy.D.
Location:	Newark, New Jersey
Message:	As Milt put it best, the power of memory will not let us forget. I remember Don Peterson from my student times at GSAPP. He was a reassuring presence and a formidable role model. Back then I was too shy to seek his attention or initiate conversation with him, but always admired the scope and breadth of his discussions with colleagues, which I often overheard on my way to classes. Don Peterson always made me feel that to be a psychologist is a privilege that goes beyond the clinical and into the political, into the Humanity's collective experience in a shared lifetime. I express my condolences to his family, who surely will miss him the most.

Date:	12-08-2007 05:32 AM
Name:	Dan O'Leary
Location:	Stony Brook University
Message:	Don Peterson was the coordinator of the year long proseminar at the Univ of Illinois when I arrived there in 1962 fresh out of undergrad school. The course covered the major areas of psych and Don helped us all learn the material and appreciate different approaches to Psychology. He was kind and very supportive, and I have very fond memories of him and the course. I have also been thankful for his ability to rise above substantive differences. He and my father in law, Bill Gilbert, also a faculty member at Illinos and Director of the Counseling Service, had major public disagreements over whether a PsyD would be good for psychology in general. Don was pro and my father-in-law was con. It was a diffficult time at Illinois but Don was always very kind to me whenever I saw him across the years, he would ask about Susan Gilbert OLeary, my wife and Bill's daughter. He was a kind man who could rise above substantive and personal differences, and he clearly had a very major impact on psychology.

Date:	12-03-2007 05:05 PM
Name:	Julian Rappaport
Location:	University of Illinois
Message:	Don Peterson was the DCT when I was hired at Illinois (1968). He was very kind to me when I was a "green" assistant professor. He encouraged me quite a bit to stay with ideas that I believed in. He and Jane were also very gracious to both me and my wife, Arlene, who also remembers both of them very fondly. When Don was looking at the position at GSAPP he asked me to write a letter for him. I was both flattered and stunned because I did not want him to leave. He had an important and lasting impact on the University of Illinois where he taught for some twenty years. Don's impact on professional psychology is and will be obvious to the history of psychology. I hope that his impact on young psychologists, who were both his students and his colleagues, will also be remembered, not just as an intellectual mentorship, but also as a human one. Don was a very decent man.

Date:	12-01-2007 04:59 AM
Name:	Doug Bernstein
Location:	University of South Florida
Message:	Don was Director of Clinical Training at Illinois when I arrived there as a brand new assistant professor in the fall of 1968. This meant that I had the pleasure of working with him, and learning from him, in the 7 years before he left the department. I vividly remember the tact and skill he displayed in chairing our clinical staff meetings (which in the days of our new Psy.D. program were not always peaceful affairs), and I fondly recall the kindness that he and Jane showed me, including an invitation to dinner at their home shortly after I arrived. He was a truly classy guy, and I was very sorry to hear of his passing.

Date:	12-01-2007 03:42 AM
Name:	Ed Diener
Location:	University of Illinois
Message:	Don was still at the U of Illinois when I arrived, and I overlapped with him a year or two before he headed East. I remember Don as the fellow who invented the Psy.D. degree, but also as a person who was warm and supportive to a young faculty member, me. I saw him occasionally over the years, and he continued to be warm to me, and interested in my work. Don made an immense contribution to the practice of psychology in his invention of the Psy.D. program, and then in the rigor he insisted on for training in this field.

Date:	11-19-2007 11:15 PM
Name:	Milton Schwebel
Location:	Tucson, AZ
Message:	Don was more than a colleague. Over a period of four years we were brother deans, he at GSAPP and I at the Graduate School of Education. During those years we attended the provost’s weekly meetings with deans, frequently addressing the controversial issues that confronted the university in the sixties and seventies. Quite regularly we shared the same views, representing a liberal wing that was sometimes in the minority. When I resigned as dean, Don was instrumental in bringing me to GSAPP. Our relationship was further cemented during the subsequent years when, as I wrote Jane, it was my privilege “to have as a friend a person of rare intelligence, combined with a commitment to social justice, and the warmest of hearts. He was a joy to be with.” He most certainly was not a parochial psychologist: Discussions with him ranged widely over the arts, humanities, the social and biological sciences. Besides our collegial relationship, he and Jane, Bernice and I shared memorable evenings, sipping dry martinis while discussing the affairs of the world, Broadway theater, favorite museum exhibits, jazz, exceptional restaurants in New Brunswick and New York and, not least of all, the comical and serious at Rutgers. Unfortunately, when you live as long as I have, you learn to grieve and then accommodate yourself as best as possible to one loss after another. Fortunately, as students in Life Span Human Development learn, we humans have the power of memory, the rare ability to relive in minutest detail experiences of the past, with all the associated emotions intact. In that sense--yes, a poor substitute, but the best we have-- Don will be with Jane, his children, and the rest of us who cherish his memory.

Date:	11-13-2007 01:54 PM
Name:	Dan Fishman
Location:	GSAPP
Message:	Don Peterson was one of the great figures in psychology over the past half century – in terms of the originality, quality, breadth, style, and effectiveness of his research and scholarship, and in terms of his leadership in helping to literally create professional psychology and the PsyD degree. His 1968 book, "The Clinical Study of Social Behavior," was a revolutionary breakthrough in radically reconceptualizing academic and applied psychology in a way that brought them together in synergy, overcoming many of the gaps that had hitherto separated them. He brought to all his pursuits an epistemological sophistication and a renaissance expertise spanning from psychology’s historical connections with quantification and experimentation to its roots in the humanities, as exemplified by Don’s engaging, elegant, and profoundly insightful writing that narratively explores and probes the complex realities of the human condition and how we can learn about it. Don’s wide-ranging intellectual interests are reflected in the elaborate and detailed plans he had undertaken to write a book on the U.S. Presidents and racism, which I found absolutely fascinating. At the applied level, Don functioned not only as a preeminent clinical psychologist, but also as an outstanding community and organizational psychologist. I had the honor and good fortune not only to work as a faculty member under Don’s inspiring deanship for 13 years, but also to collaborate with him over the years until a few months before his death on a number of scholarly and applied projects – such as the anti-discrimination, “Common Purposes” program he developed for Rutgers and the book we co-edited, "Assessment for Decision." He was the ideal partner in these ventures: creative and collegial, with a superb ability to analyze and organize difficult and multifaceted ideas – and, of course, that wonderful facility with the language. I will dearly miss Don as a close friend and colleague, and want to extend my deepest felt condolences to Jane and the rest of his family.

Date:	11-13-2007 09:40 AM
Name:	Suzanne Baranello
Location:	GSAPP- Psych Clinic
Message:	Don Peterson was to me a warm, wonderful, and gentle man. Over the years we had so many conversations about so many different things. His kindness and concern for me was always appreciated. His devotion to his life's work was only overshadowed by his devotion to his wife Jane and his family. My sympathy goes out to Jane and his family. I will miss him very much.

Date:	11-12-2007 09:14 AM
Name:	Rachelle Gold
Location:
Message:	In connection with Jeff Axelbank's remarks, I want to add my gratitude to Dr. Peterson for his response to a column I wrote for the alumni newletter in 2005 about threats to integrity of the Psy.D. degree. His well-reasoned optimism buoyed me during a challenging period of relocation and work transition. We at GSAPP are indeed privileged to have benefited first hand from his scholarship, vision and leadership. I hope there are others in our profession who will take up his mantle.

Date:	11-11-2007 10:36 PM
Name:	Rose Farias
Location:	Newark, NJ
Message:	I will always remember Don as a man who could always make me smile. Full of life, he always had a kind word and funny story to share. During my time at GSAPP, I was honored to work so closely to a man who had such passion for the field of psychology. Even after his retirement he worked relentlessly to publish and continue the discourse. I truly admire Don and consider myself blessed to have known him.

Date:	11-08-2007 09:55 AM
Name:	Jeffrey H. Axelbank
Location:
Message:	I remember Don as a strong Dean during my first 3 years at GSAPP, and I marvel at how he shepherded the program into existence. However, I was particularly impressed (and now even more so knowing that he was already ill at the time) that last year he contacted me to ask my help with his latest research project. He was still going strong, even at the end. He sent me the proposal, and asked me to pilot the questionnaire, and to recruit others to pilot it as well. The project was a follow-up to his landmark research on psychology doctoral graduates, comparing experiences of Ph.D. vs. Psy.D., and independent professional schools vs. university-based professional schools (like GSAPP). I understand that this project will continue after his death, and it is a very important endeavor. We all owe Don a debt of gratitude for helping to create and legitimize the Psy.D. degree, and the educational model behind it.

Date:	11-08-2007 09:28 AM
Name:	Lucy Santanna-Takagi
Location:
Message:	I was never one of Don's students, nor was I one of his dissertation apprentices. I first met Don in 1999 during my first year at GSAPP when I saw him often going to and from his office, being always very busy. I remember feeling privileged by being able to witness his presence, and at the same time, feeling intimidated by his professional stature and knowledge. I think it was in 2000 or 2001, Don stopped me in the halls of GSAPP to tell me that the GSAPP Colloquium Series had been a terrific idea and that he was hopeful that people in and out of GSAPP would continue to be contributors to it. I guess he might have regretted that compliment, since by the end of our brief conversation, I walked out with a day, time and title of a presentation that he had just agreed to give. Don attended multiple presentations at GSAPP and often contributed with insightful comments, disclosures, questions and with his own experience of the topics being discussed. Through the years, I learned to "connect" with Don and Jane during every GSAPP event and was always humbled by his insights, his drive and his concerns for GSAPP and for the profession. His wisdom and expertise were a great match to Jane's wit and sense of humor. In reading his bio, I found it hard to believe that he retired in 1989, since he was so PRESENT at GSAPP. His memories of Paul Meehl, of the history of GSAPP ("an unfinished book" - the last I heard), and of the future of Psychology were treats to be relished and I did relish them as often as I could. Thank you Don for all! This has been another deep loss for all of us in the GSAPP family, but an immense loss for the professional psychology community. My love and heart goes out to Jane. Lucy

Date:	11-08-2007 09:25 AM
Name:	Frederick Rotgers
Location:	Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Message:	He liked a good martini, too! I recall my first meeting with him--over dinner at an APA meeting in Montreal. I planned to dine at the Beaver Club Restaurant in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, which was famous for its martinis (my stepfather, a former bartender, makes a killer martini, so I had to compare theirs!). We were each alone for dinner and he came up behind me as I was waiting for a table. I invited him to join me, and we each ordered one of the famous martinis, which arrived in huge brandy snifter pitchers (each the equivalent of about 3 regular drinks!). They were terrific, although I'm not sure if that memory is more due to the company of a wonderfully warm, caring and committed man whose presence, as you say, at GSAPP really put us on the map in the world of professional psychology! I've already raised a glass to Don and I hope we all will! We owe him a tremendous debt--afterall, there was no Psy.D. before Don invented it!

Date:	11-08-2007 09:17 AM
Name:	Marshall L. Mintz
Location:	Springfield, New Jersey
Message:	Dear Colleagues, The passing of Don feels like the ending of an era. Although a few faculty remain from the GSAPP beginnings in the mid-70's, for me, Don represented the foundation of that era. He managed the complex faculty relationships with the adept skills of a master group process leader. Don's appointment as Dean created a precedent of leadership, scholarship and interpersonal strength which has helped to insure the longevity of the school. He provided those of us, who at the time felt like we were taking a risk, with a nationally and internationally esteemed academic psychologist truly championing the Psy.D. For the next 32 yrs, along with his many highly achieved student progeny, he represented and fostered the purpose and value of GSAPP. Don was a serious scientific psychologist who deeply understood and valued the complex and often impossible task of applied work. As my dissertation chair, he gently but insistently established and maintained the scholarly standard of the product. For those alumni who did not know him, we can not underestimate the good fortune of having Don as our beacon during GSAPP's formative years and beyond. Don liked a good glass of scotch, please join me in a toast to his life and unsurpassed contributions to the Doctor of Psychology. Cheers, Don!!! Marshall GSAPP '80

Date:	11-08-2007 08:39 AM
Name:	Caroline Mossip
Location:
Message:	It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Don Peterson. Don was the first Dean of GSAPP, and was Dean when I was a student here. He was always an ardent advocate for the PsyD degree and has been rightly described as "the grand dean of the PsyD." This April, when I heard he was not able to join us at the GSAPP gathering at the Zimmerli Museum, due to not being well, I wrote to him sending him best wishes for a quick return to good health. I received a gracious note from him in reply, indicating that he hoped to be back in full strength very soon. On behalf of the GSAPP Alumni Organization, I send our deepest sympathies to his wife, Jane, and his family in their loss. Sincerely, Caroline Mossip, PsyD '83 President, GSAPP Alumni Organization

Date:	11-08-2007 08:37 AM
Name:	Bonnie Markham
Location:
Message:	Very sad news, a great loss. I have many wonderful memories of Don from meeting him in the examination room at Seton Hall when we were both taking the NJ licensing exam to crying in his office when I was forced off the tenure track at the medical school to feeling proud and smart at my dissertation defense with him on my committee to hearing about all the amazing things he was thinking about whenever I ran into him and to slipping him and Jane a couple of bottles of Australian wine that they enjoyed at the Career Continuum reception. He enriched my life and I suspect he did that with every life he touched. Let us be sure to have a special tribute to Don at the GSAPP Alumni Organization 15th anniversary celebration.

Date:	11-07-2007 03:20 PM
Name:	Sylvia Krieger
Location:	GSAPP
Message:	Don Peterson was a kind and gentle who influenced us all in someway. His presence will be missed in the halls of GSAPP. I am grateful to have known him and share in the valuable insight and knowledge of life that he so strived to acknowledge to us as individuals. I will miss him.

Date:	11-07-2007 11:20 AM
Name:	Ronald E. Fox
Location:
Message:	Don Peterson"s loss is a very sad time for psychology in general and for professional schools in particular. More than any other person he has been the one who provided the intellectual underpinnings for the movement and mounted the most convincing arguments for what a profession should be. Some of his papers and speeches are classics for anyone interested in the history of our profession and the professional school movement. His clear, tightly reasoned and well-documented arguments always were stated in a style that was authoritative and generous while remaining directly on point. Personally, he was the one who first captured my interest in the professional school movement. After getting to know him at the Vail Conference, I came home convinced that I wanted to see a professional school established in my home state of Ohio. His help, support and encouragement over the years were extremely important in creating the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University. It was modeled on the Peterson's program at Rutgers. Over the course of time, Don and his wife, Jane became my friends. Don was a brilliant man, a gifted writer and a real gentleman. Our profession is diminished by his death. I will miss him greatly. This is a huge loss. My hear goes out to Jane and his family.

Date:	11-07-2007 11:18 AM
Name:	Steve Dantzig
Location:
Message:	I have fond professional and personal memories of this gentle and caring man. He was the Dean during most of my tenure at GSAPP and proved to be an outstanding leader as well as trusted confidant during a personally confusing relationship. All of us who either have professional degrees in psychology, are pursuing professional degrees or who teach in these programs owe a great deal to Don and his early colleagues. His presence will be missed.

Date:	11-07-2007 11:16 AM
Name:	Charles I. Zadikow
Location:	Summit, NJ
Message:	It must have been 1979 and I had been with the first GSAPP class and now three or four of us were going to see Don demanding that, as alumni, we expected certain rights and privileges. We wanted, for example, representation on the admissions committee, to be part of the admissions process, to sit on various committees, etc. I expected we would have to negotiate on a step by step basis, to move towards our goals in baby steps, etc. However, Don looked at me and said quietly; "That all makes perfect sense to me. When do you want to begin?" That is one of my abiding memories of a man who was one of the boys as well as one of the men we all had to look up to because he was Don and we were not. It is with great sadness that I recall this memory now made bittersweet with Don's passing and my thoughts go out to his family as well as to our community. We have all lost someone dear. Very Fondly, Charles

Date:	11-06-2007 11:24 AM
Name:	George Stricker
Location:	Argosy University/DC
Message:	Don was a man of intelligence and integrity. I admired him, enjoyed working with him, and learned from him. He will be greatly missed. George Stricker, Ph.D., ABPP

Date:	11-06-2007 10:48 AM
Name:	Jules C. Abrams
Location:	Widener University
Message:	I will always cherish my memory of Don not only as an esteemed colleague and friend, but as the one person who inspired many of us to even think of the Psy.D. degree. I was fortunate to have Don develop the conference program for NCSPP the year I was president. I could not have chosen a better person for this particular unique conference. I was delighted to have Widener University give him an honorary doctorate for all his contributions to psychology. I will miss him as will all psychologists interested in excellencin education. Jules C. Abrams.Ph.D., ABPP

Date:	11-05-2007 03:41 PM
Name:	David B. Sacks
Location:
Message:	I remember Don as the dean of our program at Rutgers. He was a forceful advocate for professional psychology, a person who could unify strong and diverse personalities, and a creative thinker, frequently devising new research and writing new articles and chapters. I remember him personally as a kind and caring mentor.

Date:	11-05-2007 03:39 PM
Name:	James Dobbins
Location:
Message:	There are no words to express the loss of an icon. Don Peterson was a one-of-a-kind whose vision resulted in some of our finest moments as an educational movement and educational organization. His passing signals to us the need to remain committed, vigilant and united. With his passing, the movement is not over. It is, simply, "our turn". He will be missed and we should do all that we can to honor him. We will convey our condolences to his family and to the many students and associates who he taught, guided and corrected. He will be remembered for his erudite style and uncompromising leadership. I will miss him and be forever grateful for all that he gave to me personally and for his unselfish efforts on behalf of NCSPP. Because of people like Don this organization has become a catalyst for making a difference, a safe haven and a professional home for all of us. In remembrance of Don Peterson, James Dobbins, Ph.D. ABPP President