Robert R. Holt ’39

“I have been a psychologist from the day I took Professor Hadley Cantril’s course, Social Psychology, in our sophomore year,” Bob wrote for our 50th-reunion yearbook. He got his advanced degrees at Harvard and went on to teach and do research in Washington, D.C.; Topeka, Kan.; and then to New York University for 35 years, with many guest fellowships along the way. He authored and co-authored hundreds of articles and 17 books, including his 1989 Freud Reappraised and his 2017 book of letters with his mentor at the Menninger Institute, The Rapaport-Holt Correspondence.

Bob was a loyal, though sometimes critical, member of our class. About Professor Cantril, he shared: “He taught me what an exciting and original way to look at the world psychology could be, a psychology that dealt with real, whole, ordinary human beings, not lab animals or isolated functions.” About Princeton in 1989, he observed, “Coeducation and broadening the base through bringing in gifted people from disadvantaged backgrounds have been very welcome. In retrospect, I can see how justified our reputation as a country club was.”

Bob died April 10, 2024, at home in Truro, Mass., where he summered since 1963 and lived year-round since 1989. He was 106. He is survived by his wife, Joan; sons Michael and Daniel; daughters Dorothy and Catherine; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. To them and to the countless others touched by Bob’s many deep interests and commitments our class expresses our pride that he was one of us.