Boris M. Levinson

Boris Mayer Levinson (July 1, 1907 – April 2, 1984) was an American psychologist who accidentally discovered the therapeutic benefits of animal-assisted therapy.

Biography

Early life and education

Levinson was born to Jewish parents in the Lithuanian town of Kalvarija, Suwałki Governorate, then in the Russian partition of the Russian Empire. He was the third eldest of four siblings. When Levinson was 14, his family emigrated in 1923 to the United States to New York City. The Levinson family established themselves in Brooklyn, East New York. He graduated from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn and afterwards became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1930.

Early career

Continuing with his studies, Levinson completed his Bachelor of Science at the City University of New York in 1937, and in 1938 he earned a Master of Science in Education. In 1947, he earned his PhD in clinical psychology from New York University. His dissertation, "A Comparative Study of Certain Homeless and Unattached Domiciled Men," lead him to become a pioneer in the study of homeless men; he wrote several articles about the topic. He also wrote about a variety of other topics, such as the psychological traits of children of traditional Jewish backgrounds, childhood autism, intellectual disability and animal assisted therapy. Levinson's first article about the human-animal bond paved the way for later research in this field. He also coined the term "pet therapy" on his second article about the human-animal bond in 1964. Levinson is known as one of the fathers of the field of animal-assisted therapy.

Personal life In 1934, Levinson married his first wife, Ruth Berkowitz, and they had two sons. They later divorced and Levinson married for the second time to Aida Peñaranda, a diplomat from Bolivia, in 1974.

Death Levinson died of a heart attack in 1984. He was the director of human animal companion therapy at the Blueberry Center and was professor emeritus of psychology of Yeshiva University.