David Apter, the retired Henry J. Heinz II Professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science at Yale, died May 4, 2010, of cancer. He was 85.
Apter was in the Army from 1943 to 1946, and in 1950 graduated from Antioch College. He then earned a Ph.D. in politics at Princeton in 1954. Before joining the faculty at Yale in 1969, he had taught at Northwestern, Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley. Just prior to retiring from Yale in 2000, he chaired its sociology department.
Blurring the confines of political science and sociology, Apter was a persistent field worker who interviewed individuals high and low. Initially, he studied African nations emerging from colonialism to independence and analyzed their troubled progress. His research on South America found economic growth generally failing to foster democracy. He also studied aspects of the Middle East, China, and Japan. This extensive research and analysis included political and social theory, and led to his writing numerous and influential books over nearly a half-century of scholarly endeavor.
Apter is survived by his wife, Eleanor; two children, Emily *83 and Andrew; and four grandsons.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.