Garfield, Sol L. (Sol Louis), 1918-2004

Sol L. Garfield was born in Chicago on January 8, 1918. He received his BS, MA, and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University by the age of 24. Upon completing his degree he took a job as an army psychologist during World War II. His distinguished service led to his promotion as Chief Clinical Psychologist at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Mendota, Wisconsin in 1946, and a year later, Director of the clinical training program at the University of Connecticut. Following that time Garfield spent 6 years at the Veteran's Administration in Downey, Illinois (1951-1957), six years at the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute (1957-1963), one year at Missouri Psychiatric Institute (1963-1964) followed by six years at Teachers College, Columbia University (1964-1970). Garfield spent the rest of his career at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri from 1970 to 2003.

Garfield's career has been marked with several honors, consultant roles, editorial roles, and offices. Over the course of his life, Garfield contributed nearly 200 publications related to psychology and psychotherapy. Garfield died on August 14, 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 86.

From the guide to the Sol L. Garfield papers, 1940-2004, (Center for the History of Psychology)