MERTON, Robert K(ing) 1910-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Given name, Meyer R. Schkolnick; born July 5, 1910, in Philadelphia, PA; died February 23, 2003, in New York, NY. Sociologist, educator, and author. Merton, who was sometimes given the appellation "Mr. Sociol ogy" and who coined such terms as "role model" that have become part of modern vernacular, was a pioneering sociologist who helped establish the field and whose research has had important repercussions in law, crime, politics, and business marketing. The son of Eastern European immigrants, he changed his name as a teenager to use in his amateur magician performances, later making the name permanent when he was accepted to Temple University on a scholarship. His A.B. was earned at Temple in 1931, and from there he attended Harvard, receiving an M.A. in 1932 and Ph.D. in 1936. Merton remained at Harvard to teach for three years before going to Tulane University, where he was a professor and chair of the sociology department until 1941. He then joined the faculty at Columbia University as an assistant professor, becoming Giddings Professor of Sociology in 1963, University Professor in 1974, and University Professor emeritus in 1979; he was still teaching classes at Columbia at the time of his death. Although Emile Durkheim is usually considered the architect of modern sociology, Merton was nevertheless referred to as the father of the discipline, and he helped turn it from a purely academic field of study into a science that had real-life applications. For example, his research on integration in communities was used by attorney Kenneth Clark in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, and he invented the use of the "focus group," which has become an important tool for business marketers and political researchers; his leadership as president of the American Sociological Association helped increase the number of sociologists over four hundred percent. Merton was praised by his colleagues for his ability to clearly explain original concepts—such as the "self-fulfilling prophecy"—that are now commonly accepted not only in the scientific community but also among the general public. Enjoying a serendipitous approach to research, his interests led him to study everything from the mass media, racism, and the sociology of the scientific community to literature and etymology. Among his many publications are On the Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postscript (1965), The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations (1973), Social Research and the Practicing Professions (1982), Opportunity Structure (1995), On Social Structure and Science (1996), and, most recently, The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity. He also coedited numerous works, including Sociological Traditions from Generation to Generation (1980) and Social Science Quotations: Who Said What, When, and Where (2000).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

books

Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Writers Directory, 18th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2003.

periodicals

Chicago Tribune, February 26, 2003, section 3, p. 12.

Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2003, p. B18.

New York Times, February 24, 2003, p. A19.

Times (London, England), March 4, 2003.

Washington Post, February 27, 2003, p. B6.