Sad News: Richard Hackman Dies at 72

From Harvard Crimson: (obituary of Richard Hackman, who was a generous and thoughtful contributor to the efforts at Harvard Law School to bridge law and the mind sciences):
Over a career spanning nearly half a century, psychology professor J. Richard Hackman garnered widespread esteem and accolades for pioneering the study of team dynamics. But on the side, Hackman quietly devoted countless hours to improving one team in particular—the Harvard women’s basketball squad, for which he volunteered as an honorary coach.
Those who knew him say that gestures like these defined Hackman, who died on Jan. 8 in Boston following complications from lung cancer. He was 72.
“He really lived what he was studying,” said Alexa S. Fishman ‘13, Hackman’s thesis advisee. “He wanted to help and give back to the undergraduate community.”
By all accounts, Hackman was a model team player who practiced what he taught. He was at once a dry wit who knew how to lighten the mood with humor, an attentive mentor and colleague skilled at putting others at ease, and a maverick unafraid to voice dissent when the situation demanded it.
According to psychology professor Daniel T. Gilbert, Hackman’s brand of humor “wasn’t standard comedy.”
“He was funny, quirky, interesting,” Gilbert said. “He was not a guy who sat down and told canned jokes.”
In a thesis prospective meeting with Hackman, Fishman recalled, Hackman deadpanned that her thesis proposal was not up t...

Source: The Situationist - January 19, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Situationist Staff Tags: Social Psychology Source Type: blogs