In Memoriam: Eleanor Maccoby, 1917-2018

Eleanor Maccoby, the Barbara Kimball Browning Professor of Psychology Emerita at Stanford University, died from complications of pneumonia on December 11 in Palo Alto, California. She was 101 years old.

Professor Maccoby was the first woman to chair the psychology department at Stanford. She held that post from 1973 to 1976. Dr. Maccoby was also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Families, Children and Youth.

A native of Tacoma, Washington, Professor Maccoby attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon but completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington. She went on to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D. In experimental psychology at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Maccoby began her academic career at Harvard University in 1950.  She joined the faculty at Stanford in 1958. Professor Maccoby was the author or co-author of 11 books including The Psychology of Sex Differences (Stanford University Press, 1974) and Dividing the Child: Social and Legal Dilemmas of Custody (Harvard University Press, 1992).