Campus & Community

Brendan Maher, scholar, former GSAS dean, dies at 84

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Brendan A. Maher, the Emeritus Edward C Henderson Professor of the Psychology of Personality in the Department of Psychology, died in his Durham, N.C., home on March 17, at the age of 84.

Maher, a highly regarded scholar in the field of schizophrenia, made extensive contributions to the empirical study of psychopathology and is regarded by many as the primary architect of a laboratory-based approach to the study of mental illness.

Maher arrived at Harvard as a lecturer in 1960, leaving in 1964 to assume a professorship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He later served as dean of the faculty at Brandeis University, before returning to Harvard in 1972. During his long career, Maher taught Harvard undergraduate, graduate, and Extension School students; served as the chair of the Psychology Department on two occasions; and served as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Maher, who will be remembered by many students and colleagues for his wisdom, humor, stories, and gentlemanly manner, is survived by his wife Winifred “Barbara” Brown Maher, five children, and five grandchildren.

A memorial service is being planned for sometime in September.