Emeritus professor Lois Wladis Hoffman of the University of Michigan Department of Psychology died Feb. 13, following a long siege of Alzheimer’s disease.

Her career at U-M started in 1953 with the onset of doctoral study in sociology. It was followed by research appointments at the ISR and School of Public Health and culminated with one of the earliest appointments to the then budding Developmental Psychology section of the U-M Department of Psychology.

A contributing force to the national recognition accorded that unit, which in turn gave impetus to its rapid expansion, she rose to the rank of professor and served as chair of Developmental Psychology during part of her tenure. In the course of her illustrious career she coauthored four books and coedited four others published more than 80 papers, served on a range of editorial and research review boards and was elected president of the Developmental Psychology division of the American Psychological Association. 

By virtue of her pioneering studies of the effects of women working — on themselves and their families — she shed light on an important understudied issue and in so doing, generated knowledge of great relevance to the women’s movement. Other noteworthy contributions made by her were the central role she played in an international study of how children were variously valued in different cultures and a widely cited article in which she subjected overstated claims for the genetic determination of behavior to rigorous and skeptical scrutiny. She also was an acclaimed teacher and sought after mentor. 

She is survived by her husband Herbert Zimiles, two daughters, Amy Kilroy and Jill Hoffman, and five granddaughters.

— Submitted by Herbert Zimiles