Victor H. Denenberg (1925-2008)

A preeminent researcher in the field of early experience and brain development, Victor H. Denenberg contributed hundreds of articles and chapters, and several texts, to the field of behavioral neuroscience during his lifetime. Denenberg was born April 3, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois. He attended college on the GI Bill and graduated from Bucknell University in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He went on to receive a doctorate in 1953 in experimental psychology at Purdue University, with minors in statistics, industrial psychology, and physiology. In 1954, Denenberg was appointed assistant professor of psychology at Purdue University, where he was tenured and remained for 15 years. Over the course of his career, Denenberg published nearly 400 scholarly papers and chapters, including a dozen articles in Science or Nature. Denenberg received many honors during his lifetime, including a Carnegie Fellowship and appointment to the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Brain Sciences. He was also appointed to numerous executive committees of the American Psychological Association (APA) and served as a Board member for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Fellowship Committee. Victor H. Denenberg died July 19, 2008. He will be remembered as an outstanding mentor and scientific influence by numerous former students, who carry on his work and influences through their independent research careers.