Zella Luria
Zella Luria (; February 18, 1924, – June 10, 2018) was an American psychologist and feminist known for her work on the development of gender identity and sexuality across the life course. Her work helped to shift the field towards a cognitive approach that emphasized the social construction of gender and the active role of children in such construction. Luria taught at Tufts University from 1959-2002. She co-authored the textbook Psychology of Human Sexuality (1979), later reissued as Human Sexuality (2nd ed. 1987) and was an associate editor of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Luria was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. Family life and education Zella Hurwitz was born on February 18, 1924 in New York City, to Hyman and Dora (Garbarsky) Hurwitz. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Belarus. Her mother was a factory seamstress who did not read English, and her father was a house painter and a member in a union. Zella entered university at age 16 and received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Brooklyn College in 1944. Hurwitz then attended Indiana University as a graduate student in psychology. There she met microbiologist Salvador Luria, a faculty member.