Clayton, professor of psychology, emeritus, has died
Keith N. Clayton, professor of psychology, emeritus, died on December 18, 2024, in Nashville at the age of 90.
Born in 1934 in Coffeyville, Kansas, Clayton was the first of his immediate family to earn a college degree. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1956 and master’s degree in psychology in 1958, both from Southern Methodist University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Northwestern University in 1960.
That same year, Clayton joined Vanderbilt as an assistant professor of psychology. He became a professor of psychology in 1970 before retiring in 1999 as professor emeritus.
After retirement, Clayton continued to be actively involved in the academic life, regularly attending seminars and talks and creating a digital archive of the department’s history. He also pitched for the department’s intramural softball team until he was 70.
While trained in animal behavior, Clayton published on a diverse array of topics, including mental imagery, color vision, learning and memory, and time series analyses. He was also one of the first in the department to promote the use of computers in research.
In the last decade of his career, Clayton developed a strong interest in using nonlinear dynamics to understand the time course of cognition, being an early member and treasurer of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences. He was also a founding member of the Society for Mathematical Psychology.
“Keith was a consummate cheerleader for our department and its growth,” said Thomas Palmeri, Centennial Chair and professor of psychology. “I was told that a former department chair, Jum Nunnally, said that he imagined our department as a house with many windows, and when he looked at that house, he saw Keith’s enthusiastic face in most of its windows. Keith was a mentor, colleague, and friend to many of us in the department, and he will be dearly missed.”
Clayton is preceded in death by his parents and brother. He is survived by his children Norman, Elizabeth, and Ben (Christiane); grandchildren Emily, Maia, Sieren, and Diego; and ex-wife Burneta Clore Clayton.
Private services were held in Nashville at the end of July.