ANN ARBOR— University of Michigan psychologist Neil
M. Kalter, author of “Growing Up with Divorce” (Ballantine
Books), died Oct. 23 of cancer of the gallbladder. He was
57.

A professor of psychology and psychiatry at the U-M,
Kalter was best known for his work on the impact of divorce
on children, the subject of his 1990 book. But his
interests included the impact of parental death on children
and children’s understanding of disturbed peers.

Director of the University Center for the Child and
the Family from 1987 to 1992, Kalter taught courses on
advanced statistics, research methods, child
psychopathology, family therapy and parental loss, among
other subjects. He served on the editorial board of
Orthopsychiatry and the Journal of Child and Family
Studies, and on the National Institute of Mental Health
Review Panel on the impact of marital disruption on
children.

His consulting roles included work with the High Scope
Educational Research Foundation, the Children’s Television
Network, and the Canadian federal government on proposed
revisions of the Canadian Divorce Act.

Born Oct. 12, 1942, in New York state, Kalter attended
Mumford High School in Detroit, Mich., received his B.A.
degree from the U-M in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1971.

Kalter is survived by his wife, Susan of Pittsfield
Township, daughters, Jennifer of Dublin, Ireland; Stacy
Ann Arbor; granddaughter, Isabelle Gasparovic of Dexter;
mother, Sylvia Kalter of Tucson, Ariz.; brothers, Alan
Kalter of Ann Arbor and Jay Kalter of Switzerland; and
sister, Lee-Ann Larrieu of Sugar Grove, Minn.

A memorial service, followed by a reception, will be
held at 2 p.m. Nov. 7 at Rackham Amphitheater, Rackham
Building, at 915 E. Washington Street on the U-M campus.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations
be made in his name to Arbor Hospice, 2366 Oak Valley
Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48103.