Biography

January 6, 1943 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

February 5, 2022 · Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA (complications from cardiac arrest)

Todd Alan Gitlin

Prominent activist and writer who organized rallies against apartheid, racial segregation and the Vietnam War. In 1963 he was elected president of SDS at age 20, succeeding Tom Hayden.

He was valedictorian at the Bronx High School of Science, graduated at age 16, and studied math at Harvard University. He received a master's degree in political science at the University of Michigan, and wrote for the underground press. He earned his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a professor for 16 years and headed up the mass communications program. He taught at New York University before joining the faculty of Columbia as a professor of journalism and sociology and chairing the PhD program in communications.