Born in Brooklyn, New York and one of seven children, Abraham Maslow was the son of an uneducated Jewish immigrant couple. His parents were from Russia and insisted upon education being at the forefront of their children’s lives.

Maslow was a book worm. He studied law at City College of New York before transferring to Cornell. He didn’t stay at Cornell and after a short period of time returned to City College of New York.

Against his parent’s advisement, Maslow married Bertha Goodman who was his first cousin. Together, the couple had two daughters. Bertha and Abraham Maslow moved to Wisconsin so that Abraham could attend the University of Wisconsin. There, his work in psychology began to change and the improvement in his educational quests were noticeable.

Maslow worked with Harry Harlow who was known throughout the world for his work with monkeys and for his attachment behavior theory. Harlow offered Maslow the opportunity to work side by side with someone available to him for encouragement and advisement in his chosen field of study. Maslow received his BA in 1930 and went on to get his Masters in 1931 followed by his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1934.

Later, Abraham Maslow taught at Brooklyn College. While there, he was able to meet various famous psychologists including Adler and Fromm. Maslow’s career took him to Brandeis University from 1951-1969.

It was in 1945 that Maslow wrote a paper on the Hierarchy of Needs. Ultimately, it was this theory that would gain Abraham Maslow the notoriety of a famed psychologist. It was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that carried him to another title. He became known throughout the world as the founding father of Humanistic Psychology.

Abraham Maslow retired in California. In 1970, the founding father of Humanistic Psychology died of a heart attack. Maslow was sixty-two years old.