Arthur Warmoth

Arthur Warmoth, a psychology professor at Sonoma State University who was at the forefront of the humanistic movement in his field, died April 4 of a heart attack. He was 76.

A champion for social justice, Warmoth was a dedicated father known for presiding over large family barbecues.

"He loved life. He loved people," said his daughter, Monica Hinson. "He was always willing to help out others."

Warmoth served as the president of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, a national professional organization. He cemented his legacy by co-founding, with Eleanor Criswell, the Humanistic Psychology Institute, now Saybrook University.

Born in Red Bluff, Warmoth graduated from Reed College. He received a Ph.D. in psychology from Brandeis University, near Boston, where he studied under humanistic psychology pioneers Abraham Maslow, James Klee and Ulric Neisser.

In the late 1960s, Warmoth moved to Sonoma County and in 1969 began teaching at SSU, where he had a 41-year career. He served three terms as chairman of the psychology department, said current chairwoman Geri Olson, a longtime colleague.

"He was really known as a calm facilitator," she said. "We think of him as the gentle negotiator. He could see other people's points of view and bring people together."

David Van Nuys, an SSU professor emeritus who co-taught a class with Warmoth, said that his wide-ranging interests included economics, learning communities and recorder music.

"He was a visionary, always taking the long view and the larger context," Van Nuys wrote. "He championed, supported, mentored people that others wouldn't, trusting a potential in them that may not have yet been evident to others."

On a vacation to central Mexico in 1970, he met his future wife, Georgina Warmoth. "I fell in love with his beautiful green eyes," she said. "If you believe in love at first sight, that's what it was."

The two were married in Torreon, Mexico, 10 days later. They raised three children in Sonoma County, and they have three grandchildren.

The couple also unofficially adopted several family friends, including Wayne Downey, one of Warmoth's students.

Warmoth became involved in social justice issues and was an activist for immigrant rights, equal access to education and economic equality, daughter Hinson said.

A member of the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights and the Latino Democratic Club, he marched in support of the family of Andy Lopez, the Santa Rosa 13-year-old killed by a sheriff's deputy last year.

"He was very deliberate in his thoughts, and he never spoke until the ideas in his head were fully formed," Hinson said.

A great cook, he prepared large family meals on the barbecue, she said. He liked to hike at Sugar Loaf Ridge, Crane Canyon and the Mendocino Coast.

Warmoth was a train buff who collected and built model trains. With his wife, he traveled the United States and Europe by rail. He also was a fan of music, theater and opera, and he enjoyed watching broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera.

Besides his wife, Georgina Warmoth, he is survived by his daughters Monica Hinson of Cotati and Tonantzin Warmoth of Los Angeles, son Arthur Warmoth Jr. of Seattle, and three grandchildren.

A memorial for Warmoth at SSU will be scheduled for mid-May.