Robert Louis Kahn (March 28, 1918 – January 6, 2019) was an American psychologist and social scientist, specializing in organizational theory and survey research, having been considered a "founding father" of the modern approach to these disciplines.^[1] He has also been involved in developing studies on aging and his work is critically acclaimed by experts.^[2]

Kahn was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 28, 1918.^[3][4] He earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and was one of the founding members of the Institute for Social Research.^[5] He taught at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1976, and directed the "Survey Research Center".^[5]

In 1963 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.^[6] He was president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 1970.^[1]

Kahn died in Burlington, Vermont on January 6, 2019.^[7]

Kahn's work on organizational theory, including the book "The Social Psychology of Organizations" (1966) that he co-authored with Daniel Katz, has been described as "a major influence on the field of organizational research, applying a framework of open system theory—the assumption that an organization continuously interacts with its environment—to research on leadership, role behavior, and organizational effectiveness".^[2] Kahn has also been appraised as a leading scholar in the study of aging,^[2] especially after the publication of "Successful Aging" (1998) that he co-authored with John Wallis Rowe. The book and other pertaining research on the topic by Kahn and collaborators have contributed to the understanding of mechanisms of successful aging.^[8]

• 1966. The Social Psychology of Organizations, co-authored with Daniel Katz.
• 1998. Successful Aging, co-authored with John Wallis Rowe.