TRIPP, C(larence) A(rthur) 1919-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born October 4, 1919, in Denton, TX; died of cancer May 17, 2003, in Nyack, NY. Psychologist and author. Tripp specialized in sex research and was the author of the influential 1975 book The Homosexual Matrix. Originally interested in photography, Tripp earned an A.A.S. in the subject from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1941. When World War II began he joined the U.S. Navy, but was honorably discharged due to a minor physical disability. He found work at Twentieth Century-Fox making propaganda movies for the military for the duration of the war. For the rest of the 1940s he worked as a photographer; meanwhile an increasing interest in psychology led to a friendship with psychologist Theodor Reik, followed by work as a special assistant to Alfred C. Kinsey at his Institute for Sex Research in Bloomington, Indiana. Kinsey encouraged Tripp to return to school, which he did, earning a B.A. from the New School for Social Research in 1953 and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from New York University in 1957. Entering into private practice in New York City, Tripp was also an instructor at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center from 1955 to 1964. Not a prolific writer, he completed only two books: the bestselling The Homosexual Matrix (1975), which attempts to dispel popular myths about homosexuality, and a yet unpublished book that speculates that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was a homosexual. Tripp completed the Lincoln book with coauthor Lewis Gannet just prior to his death.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2003, p. B31.

New York Times, May 22, 2003, p. A29.

Washington Post, May 23, 2003, p. B8.