Obituary : James A. Peterson; USC Gerontologist, Sociologist, Family Counseling Expert

James A. Peterson, a clergyman turned sociologist and gerontologist who discussed marriage and family problems on Art Linkletter’s television series “House Party,” has died. He was 78.

Peterson, a USC professor emeritus of sociology who lived in Altadena, died Saturday of pneumonia at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

He taught sociology at USC from 1951 until his retirement in 1979 and served as chairman of its sociology department from 1960 to 1963.

An internationally recognized expert on marital and family counseling and aging, Peterson appeared weekly on Linkletter’s show. He also hosted a 1966 daily CBS radio show called “Conflict in Marriage,” and a CBS television show, “For Better or for Worse,” in 1964 and 1965.

Among Peterson’s myriad research projects was a national study on the effect of retirement communities on their inhabitants.

“We found that, contrary to the ‘last stop’ belief, adult retirement communities actually opened new ways of life for residents and helped them to maintain their independence,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1981. “Their activity levels went way up because of what is offered at these places in the way of recreation and sociability. Any retirement community with a high density of elder citizens has many advantages in overcoming loneliness and adding to the sense of well-being.”

At USC, Peterson was founder and director of the Marriage and Family Counseling Training Program, founder of the Cortese Institute, and co-founder and director of the USC Emeriti Center, which maintains contact with academic and staff retirees. He served as acting director of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology from 1977 to 1979.

Peterson wrote four books about marriage and family relations and produced three educational films--”The Medicine Man” for the American Medical Assn., “Journey’s End” and “Grieving: Suddenly Alone,” about death.

His career began in the ministry. Peterson earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Ripon College in 1934, and a bachelor of divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in 1938. During the 1930s he served as minister at the Loda Congregational Church in Loda, Ill., and assistant minister at the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Pomona. From 1939 to 1951, Peterson was minister of the Manhattan Beach Community Church.

Seeking a broader constituency in teaching and counseling, he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from USC in 1950, a doctor of humane letters from Rocky Mountain College in 1960 and a doctor of divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary in 1983.

Peterson, whose wife, Audrey, died in 1987, is survived by three children, Mary Talesman of Marina del Rey; John Peterson of Tualatin, Ore., and Nancy Peterson of Pomona, and a brother and three sisters.

Two memorial services are planned for next week. The first will be at 10 a.m., April 24, in Room 224 of USC’s Andrus Gerontology Center; the second is at 3 p.m., April 25, at Manhattan Beach Community Church.

The family has asked that memorial donations be made to the James A. Peterson Endowment Fund, USC Emeriti Center, USC, Los Angeles, Calif. 90089-0191, or the James A. Peterson Memorial Fund, Manhattan Beach Community Church, 303 S. Peck Ave., Manhattan Beach, Calif. 90266.