Lyle E. Bourne Jr. ’53

Lyle E. Bourne Jr. ’53, of Boulder, Colo.; Mar. 2. After receiving his PhD in psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he joined the faculty at the University of Utah as an assistant professor and served there until 1963. He then moved to the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU Boulder), where he was promoted to professor and became professor emeritus in 2002. His contributions to the field of psychology were both local and national. He wrote and/or cowrote many books, including Human Conceptual Behavior, Psychology: Its Principles and Meanings, and Train Your Mind for Peak Performance. He was the first director of the Institute of Cognitive Science (ICS) at CU Boulder, a position he held from 1980 to 1983. He was the chairman of the psychology department from 1983 until 1991 and served on the executive board of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology from 1986 to 1989. On the national level, he served as chair of the Governing Board of the Psychonomic Society (1981-1982), president of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association (1987-1988), president of both Division 3 (1991-1992) and Division 1 (2000-2001) of the American Psychological Association, and president of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences (1995-1997). In his last position, he helped the Federation present psychology to the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government. He also held a six-year position as editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory (1975-1980). He published more than 150 articles in preeminent journals and chapters exploring conceptual behavior, mental arithmetic, classification skill acquisition and training, retention, and transfer. He enjoyed being a jazz drummer, watching football and hockey on both the college and professional level, and sailing trips to exotic lands. He is survived by his wife, Rita Yaroush; three children; and a grandson.