Richard S. Lazarus was a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley who was named by American Psychologst as one of the most influential psychologists in the field. He died on November 24th, 2002 at the age of 80. He was a pioneer in the study of emotion and stress, especially their relation to cognition. His most influential books include Stress, Appraisal and Coping (1984) and Emotion and Adaptation (1991).