Donald A. Overton

Donald A. Overton (1935-2025), Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Temple University, passed away peacefully in Kennett Square, PA, on April 30, 2025, after a brief illness at the age of 89. Don was born in Troy, NY, to the late Ernest C. Overton and Evangeline Smith Overton of Mechanicsville, NY. Don was an older brother to both Roger Overton (deceased) and to Ralph Overton (of Kettering, OH). Don was a loving husband to Dr. M. Kathleen Clark Gordon, and stepparent to Jeffrey A Gordon and his wife Elizabeth Fleming Gordon of Media, PA and stepgrandparent to Travis Matthiessen Bennett of Austin, TX.

Don’s greatest scientific achievements encompassed state-dependent learning and drug discrimination studies; but his life’s impact went far beyond this in the people whose lives he entered and affected. One of Don’s former trainees shared “Under Don’s tutelage, I learned the value of understanding complex individual differences in behavior, the heart of the scientific method, the advantages of surrounding yourself with people with different experiences than yourself, and that kindness and empathy can easily coexist with devotion to hard work and scientific excellence.”

Don’s graduate work at McGill University (“Control of learned responses by drug states”, 1962) was later published in several seminal publications on state-dependent learning, a phenomenon where information is better recalled when one’s mental state is the same at time of encoding and time of recall. He added to this work for the bulk of his scientific career, with positions at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute and Temple University (Depts of Psychology and Psychiatry). Don was the principal organizer and first President of The Society for Stimulus Properties of Drugs (SSPD), in 1978. He was also highly involved with what was then referred to as Division 28 of the American Psychological Association, the division of psychopharmacology and substance abuse. This was an age when experimental psychology, behavioral pharmacology and cellular neuroscience were competing and often at odds with one another; SSPD was a major influence in bringing scientists from these fields together. Drug discrimination served for decades as the gold-standard for measuring the subjective effects of drugs and contributed to academic and private industry attempts to better understand the effects of psychoactive compounds. Don’s observations were most often recorded by his trusty Dictaphone, to be transcribed later, sometimes briefly interrupted by a zesty bite of his lunch, usually obtained from the Szechuan food truck just outside of Wilson Hall in the Temple University campus.

When asked about his scientific work, Don’s humility always was forefront. He typically answered very quickly and simply, saying “I train rats”. And he did train rats - with incredible creativity, rigor, insightfulness, and care. But he also did so much more!

Don was fascinated with understanding the neural bases of emotion and empathy, especially later in his career. This culminated in the founding of the Good Nature Institute in 2005, with his wife Kathleen Gordon. Their nonprofit provided small pilot funds for emerging investigators. Don could often be found in the poster sessions of the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, engaging with trainees and young faculty, and offering support.

“The Donald”, as he was lovingly referred to by Kathleen, was a thoughtful and impactful scientist, mentor, and benefactor - and a truly amazing human being. He will be deeply missed. The Donald will be remembered for his warm and supportive (even if sometimes awkward) spirit, his unwavering love for Kathleen, for his truly incredible scientific accomplishments and his zest for life and experiences. This obituary was lovingly created by former student, Gregg Stanwood.

Interment services for Donald Overton will be held privately. A memorial service to celebrate Donald’s life at Kendal Community will be announced at a later date. Contributions in his memory may be made to AFSC, (American Friends Service Committee), 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102. 

Arrangements are by Grieco Funeral Home & Crematory (484-734-8100) of Kennett Square. To share a memory with his family, please visit www.griecofunerals.com