Bernice Neugarten

Biography

Neugarten was born to a Jewish family in Norfolk, Nebraska, where she spent her childhood and early teenage years. Neugarten started as an early undergraduate at the University of Chicago at the age of 16, obtaining her bachelor's degree in English and French Literature in 1936. She also obtained a master's degree in educational psychology (1937) and a Ph.D. in human development (1943). In 1960, Neugarten was the first person at the University of Chicago to gain tenure in the field of human development and began many studies on the lifespan and human aging.

Neugarten was one of the first to look deep within the field of aging. Neugarten was the first to teach “Adult Development and Aging” and she continued to teach it for 30 years. For years, it was the only course of its kind offered. This course was a model for other universities. She also broke many stereotypes about aging, such as the midlife crisis, menopause being a necessarily traumatic experience, and the empty nest syndrome. Her research dispelled the notion of a midlife crisis and showed that there was no single successful route into aging. She also critiqued stage and stepwise models of adult development and emphasized the role of chance in determining adult careers. In her work on successful aging, she argued for a more complex and heterogeneous view of older person. In particular, the "young old" (in their 60s) were often quite active and socially involved, sometimes moving back into cities or otherwise making new lives for themselves once their children were grown and on their own.

Following her retirement from the University of Chicago, Bernice was invited to found a doctoral program in human development and social policy at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy. She later returned to the University of Chicago as a Rothschild Distinguished Scholar at the Center on Aging, Health, and Society.

Neugarten was recognized by numerous professional organizations and government agencies. She was president of the American Gerontological Society, and a member of the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging. She was named a member of the Technical Committee on Research and Demonstration for the 1971 White House Conference on Aging and was an organizer of the follow-up White House conference in 1982. The coauthor or editor of eight books and the author of more than 150 journal articles, Neugarten was well recognized in the research community. She died in her apartment in Hyde Park, Chicago on Sunday, July 22, 2001 at the age of 85. Her husband, Fritz Neugarten, predeceased her in 1990.