Edward F. Diener, PhD

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Edward F. Diener, PhD

1946 ~ 2021

Dr. Ed Diener passed away on April 27 in Salt Lake City. Ed was born in Glendale, California and raised in California’s Central Valley. He attended California State University-Fresno and, in his junior year, married his high school sweetheart, Carol. After completing his doctorate in psychology at University of Washington, Ed joined the psychology department at the University of Illinois in 1974. He was the Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology at his retirement in 2009. He continued to conduct research and teach at the University of Utah and University of Virginia.

Known as “Dr. Happiness,” Ed is credited with being a pioneer of research into well-being. For 40 years, Ed investigated the psychological concept of happiness. He published hundreds of academic articles on many aspects of happiness: the relation of money to happiness, cultural influences on happiness, and the health outcomes of happiness.

Ed was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a senior scientist at the Gallup Organization. He won the highest awards in psychology including the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution from the American Psychological Association and the William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science. He served as president of the International Positive Psychology Association, the International Society for Quality of Life Studies, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In the early 1990s, he was the editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He was also the founding editor of the Journal of Happiness Studies and Perspectives on Psychological Science. Ed founded Noba, an open education publisher that provides free, expert-written materials for teachers and students of psychology.

Ed was preceded in death by his parents, Mary Alice and Frank Diener; and siblings Marie, Mary Lou and Paul. Ed is survived by his wife, Carol; his five children Marissa Diener and her husband Chris Yannelli, Mary Beth Diener McGavran, Robert Biswas-Diener and his wife Keya, Kia Solorzano and her husband Valentin, and Susan Watson and her husband Jade. He is also survived by his grandchildren Caroline and Alex Yannelli, Walter and Alice McGavran, Lakshmi Vanderwerf and Jedi Biswas-Diener, Demetrio and Analia Antunez, Chad Shepherd and Haylee, Hannah, and Jade Jr. Watson.

A funeral Mass was celebrated on May 10 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church,  followed by a committal at Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery.

Those wishing to memorialize Ed can contribute to his legacy project, Noba. Please send checks made out to the 501c3 charity, the Diener Education Fund, c/o Karen Cameron, Busey Bank 5246 Red Cedar Dr., Suite 101, Ft. Myers, FL 33907