Irving Gottesman

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Gottesman, Irving Husband and Father, Professor, age 85, passed away peacefully and unexpectedly June 29, 2016. Preceded in death by parents Bernard and Virginia (Weitzner) Gottesman, brother Ronald, and brother-in-law Albert Kossoff. Survived by wife of 45 years Carol (Applen), sons Adam (Kari) and David (Rochelle), sister Judy Kossoff, grandson Josh, granddaughters Ava and Fiona, nieces Joy and Jill and Aunt Reghina Adler. Born in Cleveland, Ohio to Hungarian immigrant parents, he was an awarded pole vaulter at Shaker Heights High School and a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). After graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology, he served as a communications officer during the Korean Conflict (1953-56) and in the Naval Reserve for an additional 6 years. He earned his PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1960. He served on the faculties of Harvard University, the University of London, University of North Carolina, the University of Minnnesota (UMN), Washington University, and the University of Virginia. At the UMN, he created the first U.S. academic program for behavioral genetics. Dr. Gottesman published 17 books and more than 300 other publications. Amongst the scientific community, he was well known for his work, together with James Shields, to pioneer twin studies of heritability of mental illness. He was a founding member of the Behavior Genetics Association, and recipient of numerous lifetime achievement awards granted to scientists in his field of psychology and genetics. He will be fondly remembered for the profound impact he made as a mentor, colleague, confidant, friend and teacher to generations of psychology and psychiatry scholars. He will be missed as a doting and humorous husband, father, and grandfather. As a lifetime learner, he was still actively engaged in his pursuit of knowledge through research and ongoing mentoring of young scientists. His legacy lies in the work that laid the foundation for radical advances in the field of behavior genetics for the past several decades. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday July 9 10:30 AM at Metropolitan Ballroom 5418 Wayzata Blvd, Minneapolis. In lieu of flowers, tribute memorials can be directed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (engage.ushmm.org/…) or to a charity of their choice. Washburn-McReavy.com Edina Chapel 952-920-3996

Published on July 3, 2016