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In Memoriam - Dr Michael T. McGuire |
Michael McGuire
1929 - 2016
It is with great sadness we have to report the death of Dr Michael T. McGuire, a founding member and Trustee of the Bradshaw Foundation. He participated in various expeditions and contributed to significant elements of the Foundation’s online resource.
Michael was an American psychiatrist who made contributions to the theory of psychoanalysis, biological psychiatry, evolutionary biology, sociobiology and the theory and practice of psychiatry.
He was a long-time friend and collaborator of Margaret Gruter, the founder of the Gruter Institute. Their shared ideas about the importance of applying insights from behavioral biology and neuroscience to the law and other institutions led to decades of collaboration and joint publications.
Michael's career in psychiatry and the biobehavioral sciences spanned over six decades and resulted in numerous books and scientific publications. As a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, Michael's research and publications pioneered and expanded the application of principles of evolutionary biology to the social sciences.
Michael's study of neurochemistry, including neurotransmitters such as serotonin, and their impact on behavior shed light on the importance of neurochemistry to law, medicine and society. This work is featured in his book The Neurotransmitter Revolution: Serotonin, Social Behavior and the Law (with Roger Masters, edited by Margaret Gruter). Michael also pioneered work in applying concepts from evolutionary biology to psychiatry, as illustrated in Darwinian Psychiatry (with Alfonso Troisi). Most recently, Michael collaborated with Lionel Tiger in God's Brain, explaining religion and its ubiquity as an innate neurological need.
We have lost a man of extraordinary kindness, who was also a towering academic and a major driving force in the area of behavioural science.
Michael was a close friend, generous with his time and kind with his advice. He was also a wonderful family man and our sympathy goes out to his wife, Nancy, and his children.
Damon de Laszlo
Chairman, Bradshaw Foundation
February 2016
