CHARLES T. TART OBITUARY
29 April 1937 – 5 March 2025

Stephan A. Schwartz

In every generation of scientists in every branch of science there
are always a very small group of scientists who stand out and
Charles Tart, known to his friends as Charley, his preferred
name form, is one such person. In two disciplines: psychology,
and parapsychology, his work stands out for its originality,
insights, and the influence it has had on the work of others.
Charley died at the age of 86 on 5 March 2025, by his own account,
just before he died, “mostly of old-age.” He is survived by his daughter
Lucinda, and his son David. His beloved wife Judy died 2022, and
her death was as he told me, “very difficult and very sad.”

Charley was born in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, but grew up mostly in New Jersey. As a
teenager his consuming interest was electronics, particularly for communications, and he became
so proficient that as a teenager he became a Ham radio operator and even worked as a radio
engineer. He was an excellent student, and his electronic interests and his student achievements
qualified him for admittance to the engineering program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
But this was the age when drugs that produced altered states of consciousness became a major
cultural trend amongst the young, and after several personal experiences his fascination with
altered states became so strong that after reading J.B. Rhine’s The New World of the Mind, Charley
transferred from MIT to Duke University in order to meet and be mentored by Rhine, then the
leading parapsychologist in the United States. It was the start of his lifelong research into altered
states of consciousness, particularly, nonlocal consciousness. After earning his bachelor degree
Charley went on to graduate work in psychology and became fascinated with altered consciousness
produced by hypnosis.

In 1963, Charley finished his doctorate in psychology at the University of North Carolina,
based on his research on the use of post-hypnotic suggestions to influence dreaming, and then went
to Stanford University to pursue post-doctoral research with Ernest R. Hilgard, internationally
known for his research in altering consciousness through hypnosis. This foundation led him for the
rest of this life on a dual path career, as a psychologist and as a parapsychologist, and he was soon
recognized for his substantial contributions.

Charley joined the faculty of the University of California – Davis in the Department of
Psychology where he would serve for 28 years, eventually becoming a Professor Emeritus. But he
also held a number of other concurrent academic appointments as well: Senior Research Fellow
of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, the first holder of the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies
at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, a Visiting Professor in East-West Psychology at the
California Institute of Integral Studies, an Instructor in Psychiatry at the School of Medicine of the
University of Virginia, and a consultant on government funded parapsychological research at the
Stanford Research Institute (now known as SRI International).

From the beginning of his academic life he was a prolific writer. He would go on to publish
more than 250 papers in peer reviewed journals and chapters in books. His work was recognized
as being of such quality that his papers were accepted and published in both Science and Nature.

His first book, Altered States of Consciousness, published in 1969, quickly was recognized as
an international classic, as was his 1975 book, Transpersonal Psychologies. Both were considered so
significant that they became textbooks. He also became one of the founders of the then emerging
approach to psychology, transpersonal psychology, and became an internationally recognized
figure in both psychology and parapsychology.

Over the course of his career in addition to the two books already mentioned he wrote a
number of other on both psychology and parapsychology: On Being Stoned: A Psychological Study of
Marijuana Intoxication, States of Consciousness (1975), and Symposium on Consciousness. His 1997 book Body
Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality, which explored the relationship between
parapsychological abilities and spiritual and religious beliefs won Amazon’s best metaphysical
book award, in March 1998. His most recent books were Mind Science: Meditation Training for Practical
People and The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal is Bringing Science and Spirit Together.

The lives of hundreds of students were affected by Charley’s instruction and mentoring
and, additionally, he co-founded with myself and others, The International Society for the Study
of Energy Medicine (ISSEM), and the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Science (AAPS).
As a founding Board member of AAPS he contributed essays to Volume 1 Is Consciousness Primary?  chapter 12,
“Scientism and Religion:  Essential Science and Essential Spirituality” as well as Volume 2 Expanding Science chapter 15
“On the Psychological Need and Scientific Evidence for a Postmaterialist Expansion of Essential Science.”  Charley was a
major figure in, and one time president of, the Parapsychological Association (PA) an affiliate
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

As I said at the beginning in every discipline of science there are always a very small group
of scientists who stand out and Charles Tart was one such scientist. He will be celebrated in history
and deeply missed by his friends and colleagues.