Professor Thorne Shipley—(1927–2009)

On March 14, 2009, the founding Editor of Vision Research, Professor Thorne Shipley, passed away from complications of an illness that he had been fighting for the past three years. During his almost 20-year tenure as its founding Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Shipley guided Vision Research from its fledgling beginnings (1960) to the preeminent journal of vision research. In addition, he published many scientific articles and edited or authored five highly regarded books in the fields of psychology, visual science, and on the theories of intelligence and the origin of the mind. His loss to our scientific community is significant; to those fortunate enough to be his friends, it is profound. Thorne Shipley was born on April 11, 1927, in New York, NY. He was the son of Joseph T. and Ann H. (Ziporkes) Shipley; Joseph Shipley was a well-known and long-time (60 years) theater critic in New York City, prolific author (27 books), and teacher. Thorne is survived by his wife and loving companion of 37 years, Virginia (Segal), their two sons, Neal and Jesse, Neal’s wife Nanette (Glickman), Jesse’s wife Tabetha Ewing, three grandchildren (children of Neal and Nanette), Benjamin, William, and Jacob, and his elder brother John Burke Shipley. Thorne Shipley attended Johns Hopkins University (B.A., 1949); the New School for Social Research (M.A., 1953); and New York University (Ph.D., 1955). He did post-doctoral study as an NIH Special Fellow at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London (1958–59), and was a Fellow of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Paris (1959–60). He was a member of the following organizations: American Psychological Association, Optical Society of America, Biophysics Society, Psychonomics Society, Society for Social Responsibility