Benjamin Spock

In 1927, he married Jane Cheney, a civil liberties advocate. They were blessed with two sons, Michael and John. The couple got divorced in 1976, after 48 years of their marriage.

In 1976, he married Mary Morgan, who had formerly arranged speeches and workshops for him. She worked with him on his autobiography titled ‘Spock on Spock: A Memoir of Growing Up With the Century’ which was published in 1989.

He died on March 15, 1998, at his home in La Jolla, California. His ashes were buried in Rockport, Maine.

He was born on May 2, 1903, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Benjamin Ives Spock, a Yale graduate and long-time general counsel of the New Haven Railroad, and his wife, Mildred Louise Spock. He was the eldest of their six children and was often told to look after his young siblings.

He received his early education from the private preparatory schools and later went to Phillips Academy. From 1921 to 1925, he attended Yale University and majored in English literature. He was also a member of the rowing crew that represented the United States in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

In 1925, he attended the medical school at Yale before getting transferred to ‘Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons’ in 1927 from where he graduated in 1929.

Between 1933 and 1944, he practiced pediatric medicine. Alongside, he taught pediatrics at Cornell Medical College and worked as a consultant in the pediatric psychiatry for the New York City Health Department.

In 1943, while on a summer vacation, he started writing his most famous book ‘Baby and Child Care’.

From 1944 to 1946, while serving as a medical officer in the navy, he continued to work on it. The book was published in 1946 and became a worldwide success. Over the years, the book was translated in many languages and became one of the all-time best-sellers.

After he was discharged from the navy, he worked with the famous Mayo Clinic (1947–1951). From 1951 to 1955, he was appointed a professor of child development at the University of Pittsburgh and later became associated with the ‘Case Western Reserve’ from 1955 to 1967.

In 1962, he was also appointed the co-chairman of SANE, an organization dedicated to stopping nuclear bomb tests in the Earth's atmosphere. In 1967, he was to be nominated as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vice-presidential running mate at the National Conference for New Politics over Labor Day weekend in Chicago.

He was most noted for his book ‘Baby and Child Care’, which significantly changed widely held attitudes toward the raising of infants and children. His ideas about childcare influenced several generations of parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals.