Walter B. Pitkin | |
---|---|
Born | February 6, 1878
Ypsilanti, Michigan, U.S. |
Died | January 25, 1953
Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
Education | University of Michigan |
Occupation(s) | Author, professor |
Walter Boughton Pitkin (February 6, 1878 – January 25, 1953) was an American author and university professor. He taught at Columbia University for 38 years, and he authored more than 30 books, including the 1932 best-selling book, Life Begins at Forty.
Pitkin was born on February 6, 1878, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. [1] [2] He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1900, and he attended the Hartford Seminary before studying in Europe at the Sorbonne University, Munich University and Berlin University. [1] [2]
Pitkin and his wife Mary Gray Pitkin had five sons: Richard G., John G., David B., Robert B., and Walter B Pitkin Jr. The elder Pitkin later married Katherine B. Johnson. They resided in Los Altos, California. [1] Pitkin died on January 25, 1953, in Palo Alto, California, at age 74. [1] [2]
Pitkin was a lecturer in philosophy and psychology at Columbia University (1905–09), and professor in the Columbia University School of Journalism (1912–43). [3]
Pitkin authored more than 30 books over the course of his career, [2] including Life Begins at Forty (New York, Whittlesey house, McGraw-Hill, 1932) and The Psychology of Happiness. His A Short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity was translated into fifteen languages. Pitkin was a member of the New Realism school in philosophy, writing on its relation to biology.
Source: [4]