Steve Hambuchen, courtesy of the University of Chicago Magazine
Muriel Lezak, a neuropsychologist renowned for her work on the science of brain injuries, died on October 6 at the age of 94. Lezak penned a textbook in the 1970s that became the gold standard on the topic. She also changed the way injury was assessed, championing a model that centered patients’ descriptions of their experiences.
Lezak (née Deutsch), was born in Chicago in 1927. Her father was a furrier, according to The New York Times, and her mother worked in the business occasionally. She attended the University of Chicago, completing her undergraduate work in 1947, and stayed on for a master’s in human development, which she received two years later. While attending UChicago, she met a law student named Sidney Lezak, and the two married in 1949 before moving to Portland, Oregon and having children.
According to The Oregonian, Lezak ...