Yankelovich, Daniel

Daniel Yankelovich, noted social researcher and public opinion analyst, was born in 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts . He earned both his bachelor's degree (1946) and M.A.(1950) from Harvard University . Post-graduate studies at the Sorbonne in Paris led Yankelovich to embark upon an academic career. He also holds honorary doctorates from Washington University and George Washington University largely for his work in the public sector.

Yankelovich taught as a Research Professor of Psychology at New York University (1968-1973) and a Professor of Psychology in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research (1973-1978). In 1981 the University of California at Irvine named him a Distinguished Scholar. In 1996 Yankelovich served as a Senior Fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and currently lectures as a Visiting Professor at the University of California at San Diego .

In 1958 Yankelovich temporarily departed academia to found the marketing and research firm Daniel Yankelovich, Inc., which was renamed in 1974 to Yankelovich, Skelly, & White, Inc. He chaired this company from 1958-1986. In 1976, joining former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, he founded the Public Agenda Foundation, a nonprofit organization intended "to find and test new ways to present complex public issues." Yankelovich subsequently created the New York Times/Yankelovich Poll in the mid-1970s, which evolved into the New York Times/CBS Poll . He serves as the chairman of DYG, Inc. which he established in 1986. Yankelovich has held directorships at firms such as CBS, Inc., Loral Corporation, Meredith Corporation, Reliance Group Holdings and U.S. West, Inc., among others. He has served as a trustee at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Education, the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Brown University, and other institutions and organizations.

Mr. Yankelovich has authored nine books in addition to hundreds of speeches and articles. His books include, Beyond the Beltway: Engaging the Public in U.S. Foreign Policy (1994), Coming to Public Judgment: Making Democracy Work in a Complex World (1991), Starting with the People (1988), New Rules: Searching for Self-fulfillment in a World Turned Upside Down (1981), and Ego and Instinct: The Psychoanalytic View of Human Nature-Revised (1969).

Mr. Yankelovich has a daughter, Nicole, through his first marriage to Hassie Kaboolian . In 1991 he wed Mary Komarnicki, who also worked in the social research/public opinion field after earning a master's degree in Social Ecology from St. Bonaventure University in 1983.

From the guide to the Daniel Yankelovich Papers., 1937-1994, (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center)