On September 1, 2020, former SPSSI President (2010-11) Dr. James Jackson passed away from pancreatic cancer. He was 76 years old. As noted in a recent New York Times obituary, Dr. Jackson (pictured above) "changed the way scholars examined Black life in the United States, leading to new insights on health, social support systems and more when he founded the Program for Research on Black Americans at the University of Michigan in 1976." Dr. Jackson spearheaded the National Survey of Black Americans, the first nationally representative cross-sectional survey of Black adults in the United States. Dr. Jackson is survived by his wife, SPSSI Member Dr. Toni Antonucci, his daughters Ariana Jackson and Kendra Jackson, and three grandchildren.

Remembering Dr. Martha Mednick

On August 16, 2020, former SPSSI President (1982-83) Dr. Martha Mednick passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer. She was 91 years old. The child of immigrants and the first in her family to attend college, Dr. Mednick earned a PhD clinical psychology and built a long and distinguished career at Howard University, where she became a major contributor to the field of feminist psychology. Dr. Mednick was an instrumental figure in founding APA Division 35 (the Society for the Psychology of Women) and co-edited the first issue of JSI on the psychology of women (in 1972).