A Harvard doctoral student of Gordon Allport, PhD in social psychology and Henry Murray, MD at the Harvard Clinic,[1] as a young Cal professor Sanford studied ethnocentrism and antisemitism, and was the senior author along with Columbia University philosopher Theodor Adorno of The Authoritarian Personality, also known as "the Berkeley Study."
After departing Berkeley, Sanford briefly became a research affiliate at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations in London, after which he returned to the United States to teach at Vassar College.
In 1968, Professor Stanford founded the Wright Institute, a free-standing psychology graduate school in Berkeley, California, and later also in Los Angeles.
Nevitt had several adult children and myriad grandchildren, as well as hundreds of students and friends, who attended his memorial service and succeeded him in life.
The legacy of R. Nevitt Sanford, PhD lives on with his many graduate students and research colleagues in the struggle against fascism and authoritarianism.