Robert Jay Kastenbaum, 80, died July 24, 2013. Kastenbaum, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communications at ASU, was globally acknowledged as an expert on the psychology of aging and death. He wrote and published the first textbook on the subject: Death, Society and Human Experience (1977). He also established the first university-based educational and research center on death and dying at Wayne State University (1966), and founded and served as first editor for two important journals in the field: the International Journal of Aging and Human Development, and Omega: Journal of Death and Dying. Kastenbaum began his career as an editor for community newspapers, but a keen interest in ideas led to a graduate scholarship in philosophy and a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Southern California (1959). He was most interested in fields of psychological study that barely existed at the time: lifespan development and aging, time perspective, creativity, and death and dying. He worked as clinician, researcher, activist and hospital administrator, as well as educator and author. A lifelong passion for music and the theater led him to write plays, notably: Tell Me About Tigers, produced by Theatre Prospero in Montreal in 2000, and several opera librettos, including Dorian, based on The Picture of Dorian Gray (1995, Hofstra University), Closing Time (1999, Pima Community College, Tucson) and American Gothic (ASU, 2005). Kastenbaum is survived by his wife, Beatrice, a son and stepson. He was preceded in death by a daughter. A celebration and appreciation of his life is in the planning. Donations in the name of Robert Kastenbaum may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the World Wildlife Fund, and Doctors Without Borders. Please visit www.LakeshoreMort.com to share memories with Robert's family.