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GERONTOLOGY NEWS
from the Gerontological Society of America |
| MARCH 1999 |
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| Margret M. Baltes, PhD, a longtime distinguished member of GSA
died unexpectedly of heart failure on January 28, 1999. She was fifty-nine
years old. Dr. Baltes was Professor of Psychological Gerontology and head
of the Psychological Gerontology research unit in the Department of Gerontopsychiatry
at the Free University of Berlin. She served as a mentor and colleague
to many members of GSA. She was a fellow of the Society and received GSA’s
Behavioral and Social Sciences Section Distinguished Mentorship Award in
1994. Before her move to Germany, Dr. Baltes held a position as Associate
Professor of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University.
She was a major force in the international community of psychologists studying life-span development and aging. She was well-known for her research dealing with everyday competence and dependency in old age, cognitive plasticity and Alzheimer’s disease, and successful aging. Professor Baltes is survived by her husband, Paul, and children Boris and Anushka. A memorial service attended by many colleagues from Germany, the US and other European countries, was held in Berlin on February 5th. |