In Memoriam: Stephen Madigan, 73

Stephen Madigan, associate professor of psychology, has died. He was 73.  

Madigan died on Oct. 13 in Los Angeles following a short illness.

Madigan joined the faculty at USC Dornsife in 1969, after completing his Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Toronto. Throughout his 46-year career at USC he continued to be an avid scholar in the areas of cognition and memory and in the study of human intelligence. Central to his career was the teaching and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.

“Steve delighted in their passion for learning, celebrated their achievements and strove to instill in them curiosity, intellectual honesty and clear-eyed critical thinking,” Madigan’s family wrote in a tribute. “In his family he inspired these same values. Although a man of few words, all who knew him enjoyed his quick wit and the pearls of wisdom contained in his well-chosen and well-timed remarks.”  

A meticulous researcher and exceptional instructor

One of a handful of individuals who launched the modern field of cognitive psychology, Madigan helped revitalize the field of verbal learning and memory. His recent research on deficits in visual memory storage in individuals who later developed Alzheimer’s disease, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, could lead to diagnostic tests to indicate who is at risk and in need of preventive treatment.

“Stephen was one of the most knowledgeable and serious scholars on human memory in America,” said David Walsh, associate professor of psychology, citing Madigan’s book, Memory: The Key to Consciousness (Princeton University Press, 2007), co-written with the late University Professor Emeritus Richard F. Thompson. “This book is a permanent record of Stephen’s outstanding scholarship that, I believe, will be a lasting contribution to understanding human memory and the important role it plays in human cognition.”

Walsh, who worked with Madigan for more than 40 years and considered him a good friend, described him as a dedicated and challenging teacher. “Stephen worked harder than anyone I know to provide students with cutting-edge courses on whatever topic he covered. A few years ago he developed and taught a new course on intelligence, and he delighted in gathering materials and presenting students with a novel perspective on what intelligence was and its role in the social discourse of America. He made a significant contribution to the education of many of USC’s smartest students.”

Professor of Psychology Michael Dawson noted that Madigan taught an exceptionally wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses. “Most important, Steve’s door was always open for generous, insightful and honest advice to students as well as colleagues,” he said. 

One such student was Bill Corwin ’85, now an aerospace program manager. Corwin met Madigan in 1981 when he entered the experimental psychology Ph.D. program at USC Dornsife. He asked Madigan to chair his dissertation committee and remembers him as being particularly supportive of his career throughout his time at USC.

“Steve was unique in his ability to quickly understand technical discussions and make meaningful suggestions regarding the research I was undertaking,” Corwin said. “In the small classroom format of a graduate class he was in his element. At the time, during the infancy of personal computing, Steve was developing software for statistical analyses that was on par with the premier, mainframe-based statistical software packages.”

Madigan’s critical mind and dry wit informed colleagues and students alike. “I was always impressed with how quickly he could cut to the core of an issue and say something insightful, and yet humorous, about the issue,” Walsh said.

Professor of Psychology Gerald Davison agreed.

“Steve often reminded me a bit of Andy Rooney — crusty, thoughtful, opinionated, passionate, and above all curious about all sorts of things,” he said. “Some of the most stimulating collegial conversations I have ever had since coming to USC in 1979 were with him.  He always had a novel take on psychological matters and on academe in general. He will be missed.”

First-generation student with a “huge appetite for knowledge”

Madigan, the son of a postal employee and the manager of food services for a large corporation, was born on May 20, 1942, in Toronto, Canada. He was a first-generation college student, earning his bachelor’s in psychology in 1965 and his master’s degree a year later, both from the University of Western Ontario. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1968 and was a visiting associate professor there from 1976–77.

At USC Dornsife, he twice served as associate chair of the Department of Psychology, from 1979–81 and again in 1989. He also served in several administrative capacities: as area head of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience from 1993–96 and of brain and cognitive science from 2008–10. He was acting chair of the University Park Institutional Review Board in Spring 2005 and its vice chair from Fall 2005 to Spring 2006.

“USC was truly his life,” said Madigan’s daughter, Catherine (Kate) Madigan. “In his 46 years there I don’t think he ever gave the same exam twice or reused a lecture series from the previous year. He was passionate about teaching and his own learning and was intensely curious about all topics. Nothing was off the table for him. He had a huge appetite for knowledge, and USC really fed that.”

Madigan was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Western Psychological Association, the Psychonomic Society and Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society.

“Stephen’s dedication as a master teacher of statistics and research methods yielded decades of psychology majors inspired with the importance of empirical methods,” said Professor of Psychology Ernest Greene. “His love of teaching was only surpassed by his affection and care for his wife and children.”

Dedicated teacher and man of many interests

A keen player of classical guitar, Madigan particularly enjoyed the music of Christopher Parkening, Chet Atkins and Doc Watson. He loved reading books on everything from history to literature to physics. He also enjoyed going to the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia, Calif., and for many years worked on a statistical algorithm to predict horseracing outcomes.

“Steve Madigan’s dedication to students and to providing them with a rigorous, engaged experience was unsurpassed,” said Joseph Hellige, formerly of psychology at USC Dornsife and now executive vice president and provost of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

“He was continually honing his lectures and other material, not only to be sure that everything was up-to-date but to stretch students to think critically and deeply. As a research scholar, Steve was something of a perfectionist, publishing studies on learning and memory that were beautifully designed and theoretically sophisticated.”  

Madigan is survived by his wife of 48 years, Sarah (Sally) Madigan; his daughter, Catherine (Kate) Madigan; sons John and Christopher Madigan; his son-in-law Jason Cole; his daughters-in-law Diane Sigman and Amber Madigan; and four grandchildren, Phoebe, Sean and Neil Cole, and Saoirse Madigan.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday Oct. 23 at the Fishbowl Chapel in the University Religious Center on USC’s University Park Campus.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in his name to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.