December 5, 2023
Dear Members of Our Campus Community,
It is with deep sadness that I write to share with you the news that Distinguished Professor of Anthropology John Tooby passed away on November 10, 2023. Our hearts go out to his wife, our colleague Professor Leda Cosmides, and their daughter, Nike, as well as to all of John’s colleagues, students, family, and friends.
Professor Tooby joined our Department of Anthropology in 1990. His research crossed disciplinary boundaries, and he had a tremendous impact on many areas, including our Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences as well.
Prior to coming to UC Santa Barbara, he obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University: an A.B. in Experimental Psychology, an A.M. in Behavioral Biology, and a PhD. in Biological Anthropology. He then held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Professor Tooby is widely known and esteemed for pioneering the field of evolutionary psychology. He and Professor Cosmides together founded and co-directed our Center for Evolutionary Psychology, which was featured by Esquire magazine in 1999 as a “Red Hot Center of Genius.” Renowned for their edited volume The Adapted Mind and particularly their famous chapter on the evolutionary and psychological foundations of culture, Professors Tooby and Cosmides created a paradigm shift in the field of psychology – what some have called “a scientific revolution.” In creating the modern framework for evolutionary psychology, they drew from evolutionary biology, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, primatology, and behavioral ecology in order to understand the human mind and how it has evolved to solve specific adaptive problems. Through their landmark contributions to the study of cooperation, emotions, cognition, and culture, among other topics, Professors Tooby and Cosmides put UC Santa Barbara on the map by forging what has come to be known as The Santa Barbara School of evolutionary psychology. Their marathon lab meetings, fueled by Professor Tooby’s curiosity, encyclopedic knowledge, generosity, and wit, have provided an intellectual wellspring to generations of students, many of whom have become influential scholars. The impact of their discoveries and mentorship extends not only to psychology and anthropology, but also political science, sociology, economics, philosophy, and much more.
Professor Tooby was an influential and highly cited scholar, with 63,859 citations listed on Google Scholar. He was a Guggenheim Fellow, and an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Society/Association for Psychological Science. Recently, he and Professor Cosmides were jointly honored with the 2020 Jean Nicod Prize for piloting the “adaptationist revolution and the transformation of the cognitive sciences” – one of countless awards and distinctions throughout his extraordinary career. In 2012, Professor Tooby and Professor Cosmides were named joint recipients of our Faculty Research Lecturer Award, the highest campus honor from their peers. They gave a memorable lecture on “Climbing Down Inside the Human Operating System: Exploring the Evolved Programs That Run Our Species.”
Professor Tooby has left an enduring legacy. He will be remembered not only as a preeminent researcher and scholar, but also as a deeply devoted and inspirational professor and mentor. We are forever grateful for his leadership, his collegiality, and his extraordinary achievements and contributions. Our campus flag is lowered today in his honor.
Sincerely,
Henry T. Yang
Chancellor