Robert Holman Coombs

As a young man, Bob served two years in Virginia and North Carolina as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Afterwards he continued his studies at the University of Utah, where he majored in sociology and philosophy, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1958. There he met the love of his life, Carol Jean Cook, who was Bob’s right arm throughout his distinguished career at UCLA. Bob and Carol Jean were married in May of 1958. Bob then served in the Army and earned a master's degree from the University of Utah in 1959, followed by a Ph.D. in sociology from Washington State University in 1964. He and Carol Jean lived in Washington, Iowa (Iowa State University), and North Carolina (Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University), before settling in the Los Angeles area, where they raised their seven children. In 1970 Bob joined the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA and the Neuropsychiatric Institute, now the Jane and Terry Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. For 35 years he conducted research, published articles and books, served in administrative and service capacities (including the IRB Committee), taught classes, and provided marriage, family, and grief counseling.