Drs. Ulman Lindenberger, Juergen Baumert, and Gerd Gigrenzer, Directors of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, have contributed a brief tribute, obituary and information update for Dr. Paul Baltes. You can read the text in its' entirety at the Division's homepage, http://apadiv20.phhp.ufl.edu. A plain text version is also reproduced at the bottom of this note.
Division 20 has also received the following information updates regarding events planned for the upcoming Gerontological Society of America meetings.
First, Penn State University will hold its traditional party at 7 pm on Saturday November 18, and will dedicate part of the event to Dr. Baltes' contributions. A planned tribute will occur no later than 7:45 pm. Thereafter, as previously announced, beginning at 8 pm on 11/18, friends and colleagues of Paul B. Baltes have arranged a gathering place in the Austin Ballroom #1. People who wish to follow on to the Austin Ballroom from the Penn State gatherng may take their drinks with them if they desire. The Austin room will have seating arranged andwill allow some quiet time for reflection.
Second, presenters will carry on with a planned symposium at GSA for which Dr. Baltes was to be the discussant, and the concept of which was his idea. It is clear to the organizers that Dr. Baltes would want the group to go on with the academic effort of the session. John Nesselroade will say a few words at the opening of the session - and the speakers will make some mentions of Dr. Baltes' contributions in their talks.
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Paul B. Baltes passed away in Berlin on November 7, 2006, at the age of 67.
The Max Planck Institute for Human Development parts from Paul B. Baltes in gratitude. Baltes was a brilliant scientist, a loyal friend, and a role model for many generations of students and colleagues. His contribution to the welfare of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development is immense. We will honor his memory.
Paul B. Baltes battled cancer with enthusiasm, and at first with good success. Even from his sick bed he remained active, dictated texts, and made telephone calls. After his situation changed for the worse so that he was unable to go on, he reached the clear and emphatic decision to discontinue all further medical diagnostics and therapy. He died peacefully at home.
Paul B. Baltes's main research topics included the lifespan development of intelligence, the scientific exploration of wisdom, and methodological innovation. Together with his first wife, Margret Baltes, he established a theory of successful human aging as an orchestration of selection, optimization, and compensation. His work concentrated on the incomplete architecture of the human lifespan, with a focus on old and very old age.
Paul B. Baltes conceptualized psychological development as the interplay between generality and individuality, self-determination and fateful experience, biology and culture. His empirical and theoretical contributions have opened up new perspectives and pathways for science and society. Paul B. Baltes examined the potential of human life in the spirit of enlightenment. He wasan innovator who reshaped the fields of lifespan psychology and gerontology.
A private funeral with Paul's immediate family will take place shortly. The Max Planck Institute for Human Development will hold a memorial service for Paul's academic colleagues on a date to be announced in the near future.
Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to his wife, Prof. Dr. Christine Windbichler, LL.M., and children Anushka Baltes and Boris Baltes, PhD, with Dawn McGraw, Gavin und Kai. In lieu of flowers, Paul's family asks that anyone wishing to do so make a contribution in Paul's name to the Margret M. Baltes and Paul B. Baltes Foundation, Dresdner Bank, (Bankleitzahl, only within Germany: 100 80000), SWIFT- BIC: DRES DE BB, IBAN: DE 86 1008 0000 0501 0275 00, Account number 05010275 00. Condolences for the family can be addressed to the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, c/o Anke Schepers, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin (Dahlem), Germany.
The Board of Directors Jürgen Baumert, Gerd Gigerenzer, and Ulman Lindenberger Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
About Paul B. Baltes
Paul B. Baltes completed his PhD at the University of Saarland in 1967 with a dissertation on basic methodological questions in developmental psychology. He then spent 12 years in the United States of America. Initially he became Assistant Professor of Psychology at West Virginia University, before becoming Associate Professor of Psychology there in 1970. At the behest of K. Warner Schaie who was department head at West Virginia, Paul Baltes joined in the effort to start doctoral training in lifespan developmental psychology there. He became director of the Division of Individual and Family Studies at the College of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University in 1972. He became Full Professor for Human Development there in 1974. From 1978 to 1979, 1990 to 1991, and 1997 to 1998, he was Fellow at the Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences. In 1969, with Larry Goulet, Paul B. Baltes initiated the West Virginia Conferences on Life-Span Developmental Psychology. In 1977, with John Nesselroade and Hayne W. Reese, he wrote an introduction to research methods in developmental psychology that has become a classic in the field. Together with his later work as editor of annual volumes on lifespan development and behavior from 1978 onward, from 1979 to 1984 with Orville G. Brim and from 1986 to 1990 with David Featherman and Richard Lerner, these efforts have been pivotal in promoting lifespan psychology as a conceptual orientation in its own right.
Since 1980 Paul B. Baltes was Senior Fellow (Wissenschaftliches Mitglied) of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. From 1980 to 2004 he directed the Center for Lifespan Development. In 2005 he founded the Max Planck International Research Network on the Behavioral and Social Sciences of Aging (MaxnetAging). He was also Honorary Professor of Psychology at the Free University of Berlin and (part-time) Distinguished Professor of Psychology und Advanced Study Fellow at the University of Virginia.
Within the Max Planck Society, Paul B. Baltes took on important tasks. From 1985 to 1988 he was Chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences Section (Geisteswissenschaftliche Sektion), from 1994 to 1997 Chair of the Scientific Council of the Max Planck Society and member of the Society's Senate. He was fully engaged in these functions and in numerous other committees and helped the Max Planck Society to reach important decisions. He brought his special interest to bear for the support of the humanities, behavioral and social sciences and for the rising generations of young scientists.
Throughout his career, Paul B. Baltes promoted the dialogue between disciplines. He was active in various national and international organizations including the US Social Science Research Council (where he was chair of the Board of Directors from 1996 until 2000), the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences from 1992, the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina from 1992, and the Academia Europaea from 1988. He initiated and co-chaired the Berlin Aging Study (BASE), together with Hanfried Helmchen (psychiatry), Karl Ulrich Mayer (sociology), and Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen (internal medicine). Together with the sociologist Neil Smelser, he was co-editor-in-chief of the 26-volume International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences published by Elsevier in 2001. Together with Jacque Eccles from the University of Michigan and John Nesselroade from the University of Virginia, he was the spokesperson of the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (LIFE).
Paul B. Baltes was author or editor of 18 books and more than 250 articles and scholarly chapters. For his work, he was honored with numerous awards. He received the R. B. Cattell Award for Distinguished Research in Multivariate Experimental Psychology from the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology in 1975, the Buch-Stiftung Award for Gerontological Research in 1987, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging) of the American Psychological Association, the Distinguished Mentorship Award of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section of The Gerontological Society of America in 1990, the Robert W. Kleemeier Award in Recognition of Outstanding Research from The Gerontological Society of America in 1992, the German Psychology Prize jointly awarded by the German Psychological Society (DGPs) and the German Association of Psychologists (BDP) in 1994, the International Psychology Award, awarded by the American Psychological Association in 1995, the Aristotle Prize of the European Federation of Psychological Associations in 1999, the Novartis Prize for Gerontological Research (with Edward Lakatta, US National Institute on Aging) awarded by the International Association of Gerontology in 1999, the Longevity Research Prize awarded by the IPSEN Foundation (France) in 2000, the Distinguished Career Contribution to Gerontology Award of Behavioral and Social Sciences Section of The Gerontological Society of America in 2001, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the German Psychological Society in 2004, and the Distinguished Career Contribution Award of the Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD) in 2005.
He received honorary doctorates from the University of Jyväsklylä, Finland, in 1990, the University of Stockholm, Sweden, in 1992, the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 2000, and the Humboldt-University of Berlin in 2002. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as foreign honorary member in 1991 and to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1995. In 2000, he was elected to the German order Pour le Mérite for scientists and artists. From 2001 he was also Vice-President of the DeutscheAkademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina.
