Ethel Tobach (née Idels) was born on November 7, 1921, and passed away on August 14, 2015. Her passing brought to a close an important era in comparative psychology. This essay is not intended to be an obituary, but rather a biography and a paean to a scientist, a scholar, a social activist, and despite her curmudgeonly side (something familiar to all who knew her), a genuinely good person. She was my friend and mentor for over 25 years following the completion of my doctoral degree at Kansas State University in 1971.
(Much biographical material in what follows has been adapted from Greenberg 2015; Lewis 2010; Unger 2009). Born in Ukraine, the programs of Russia’s White Army forced Ethel’s family to move to Palestine soon after her birth. Following the death of her father when she was 9 months old her mother emigrated with her to Pennsylvania, USA. They did not stay there long, finally settling in New York City when Ethel was 10. She remained a New Yorker the rest of her life, living...
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References
Greenberg, G. (2015). In Memorium: Ethel Tobach (1921–2015). American Psychologist, 71, 75.
Greenberg, G., Partridge, T., Weiss, E., & Pisula, W. (2004). Comparative psychology: A new perspective for the 21st century: Up the spiral staircase. Developmental Psychobiology, 44, 1–15.
Innis, N. (2000). The international society for comparative psychology: The first 15 years. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 13, 53–68.
Lewis, R. (2010). Profile of Ethel Tobach. In A. Rutherford (Ed.), Psychology’s feminist voices multimedia internet archive. Retrieved from http://www.feministvoices.com/ethel-tobach/
Miller, D. K. (2008). A warm toast to a dear friend. Peace and Conflict, 14, 23–24.
Unger, R. K. (2009). Ethel Tobach. Jewish women: A comprehensive historical encyclopedia. 1 Mar 2009. Jewish Women’s Archive. Retrieved from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/tobach-ethel
Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Greenberg, G. (2017). Ethel Tobach. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_487-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_487-1