Robert A. Rescorla (May 9, 1940 - March 24, 2020) was an American psychologist who specialized in the involvement of cognitive processes in classical conditioning focusing on animal learning and behavior. Rescorla was a Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). He received his B.A. in Psychology with minors in Philosophy and Math from Swarthmore College in 1962 and later received his Ph.D. under Richard Solomon from University of Pennsylvania in 1966. From there, he began his career at Yale. Eventually, Rescorla returned to the University of Pennsylvania to continue his research. One of Rescorla's significant contributions to psychology, with co-creator Allan Wagner, was the Rescorla-Wagner Model of conditioning. This model expanded knowledge on learning processes. Rescorla also continued to develop research on Pavlovian conditioning and instrumental training. Due to his achievements, Rescorla received the American Psychological Association Awards of the Distinguished Scientific Contributions in 1986. Rescorla was first married to Marged Lindner. In the 1970s he married Leslie V. Altman but they later divorced. They had two sons together. He remarried, to Shirley Steele. Rescorla died March 24, 2020, after complications from a fall. Background and education Robert A. Rescorla was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 9, 1940. He attended high school in Westfield, New Jersey. In 1958, he decided to enter Swarthmore College where he got his first taste of research, conducting experiments on monkeys with Henry Gleitman and serving as Solomon Asch's research assistant doing human learning experiments. He graduated in 1962 with the highest honors. In 1966, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Career Rescorla taught at Yale University from 1966 to 1981. While at Yale, Rescorla began a fruitful collaboration with colleague Allan Wagner, which led to the development of the Rescorla–Wagner model. In 1975, he was elected into the Society of Experimental Psychologists. Rescorla returned to his alma mater in 1981 and was a member of Faculty there until 2009. He served as the chair of the psychology department at Penn, as well as the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1984, Rescorla was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1985, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and in 1986 was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award of the American Psychological Association. In 1989, he was named the University of Pennsylvania's James M. Skinner Professor of