Neil D. Warren; USC Dean, Psychology Professor

Neil D. Warren, 89, former USC psychology professor, dean of men and dean of its College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He began teaching at USC in 1931 after earning degrees at the College of the Pacific and USC. During World War II, he served as aviation psychologist for combat pilots, which led to a lifelong interest in the mental health of war veterans. From 1945 to 1947 he was director of USC’s Veterans Guidance Center. When the space program began, Warren was an early advocate of manned space flight, commenting in 1958: “No computer yet designed, regardless of size and complexity, matches the double handful of gray matter making up the human cerebral cortex.” Warren served as USC dean of men from 1947 to 1948 and dean of the university’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences from 1960 to 1968. From 1968 until his retirement in 1970, he was a visiting scientist at the California Department of Mental Hygiene. On Sept. 5 in Minneapolis, Minn.