Feingold, S. Norman 1914-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born February 2, 1914, in Worcester, MA; died of pneumonia February 13, 2005, in Rockville, MD. Psychologist, counselor, and author. Feingold was best known for his contributions to the areas of job counseling and occupational therapy. He graduated from Indiana University in 1937, and then completed his master's degree in psychology at Clark University in 1940. During World War II, he fought in the Pacific theater with the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. When the war was over, he returned to school, earning a doctorate in clinical psychology from Boston University in 1948. From 1946 until 1958, Feingold worked for Associated Jewish Philanthropies as executive director of Jewish Vocational Service in Boston, and for the last two years of that period as executive director of the Work Adjustment Center. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he was national director of B'nai B'rith Career and Counseling Services until 1980. The years Feingold spent counseling workers were a time of considerable change in the employment landscape, as women began to take on jobs in record numbers and labor laws were created to protect minorities and other groups. Feingold wanted to help them, as well as find career opportunities for the mentally ill and the handicapped. Related to this, he participated in writing the language that described benefits for the disabled covered by Social Security; he was also a founder of the President's Committee on the Employment of the Disabled. In general, Feingold was interested in spotting future trends in jobs and the workforce, and consequently, in 1989 he published Futuristic Exercises: A Work Book for Emerging Lifestyles and Careers in the Twenty-first Century and Beyond. After he left his job with B'nai B'rith, Feingold established a private practice. A prolific author, his many books include How to Choose That Career: Civilian and Military; A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Students (1954), A Counselor's Handbook: Readings in Counseling, Student Aid and Rehabilitation (1972), Counseling for Careers in the 1980s (1979), and the cowritten The Complete Job and Career Handbook: 101 Ways to Get from Here to There (1993).

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Washington Post, February 19, 2005, p. B5.