M. Powell Lawton,Ph.D. was Director of Polisher Research Institute at Philadelphia Geriatric Center for 30 years. He was also Adjunct Professor of Human Development at the Pennsylvania State University and Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University. His doctorate was in clinical psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. He conducted research in the environmental psychology of later life, in assessment of the aged, the psychological well-being and quality of life of older people, caregiving stress, and evaluative studies of programs for the aged and for the mentally ill. Much of his more recent work involved the study of affect in later life and quality of life of older people in declining health states. He participated in many professional activities, including service as President of the American Psychological Association's Division on Adult Development and Aging, as a member of the technical committee on housing for the 1971 White House Conference on Aging, and as a member of the National Academy of Science Committee on Aging. He was the author of Environment and Aging and Planning and Managing Housing for the Elderly, as well as being editor of other books. He was Past President of the Gerontological Society of America and was the first editor of the American Psychological Association's journal, Psychology and Aging. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics.