Sills, David, April 14, 1979

Item — Box: 5 of 6

Transcript of interview with David Sills, April 14, 1979

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Dates

Creation: April 14, 1979

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to the public and must be used in the Special Collections reading room. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

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Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

David Sills (August 24, 1920 - July 20, 2015) was a sociologist and author. He was born in New York City. Sills received his bachelor's in English Literature from Dartmouth College before enlisting with the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment following graduation. During the war, Sills reached the rank of second lieutenant and was also a prison officer. He stayed with the Army until 1946, when he attended Yale University for his master's in sociology. In 1947, he started working in Japan with the Media Research Unit of the Central Information and Education Division.

While in Japan, he married another civilian employee in the Occupation, Yole Granata, in 1948. In December 1950, the two decided to leave Japan, and then Sills received his PhD from Columbia University in 1956. He went on to have a fruitful career in sociology before retiring in 1988, having held various distinguished positions, including heading Columbia's Bureau of Applied Social Research and being the editor of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. In 1989, the American Sociological Association awarded him the Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology. David Sills passed away at the age of 94 in Branford, Connecticut.