Peter Dvorak Albert

date of birth June 13 1945

date of death August 20 2015

Peter Dvorak Albert

June 13, 1945 – August 20, 2015

Arriving just after his father shipped out to India with the U.S. Army, Peter was born in Chicago in June of 1945 to Ethel Burkholder Dvorak and Albert J. Dvorak.He was the first of four children.The family moved to Portland in 1948.

Peter’s talent in math was recognized early on.He was granted awards for exceptional achievement in mathematics in 1961 and 1962, his sophomore and junior years of high school, by the Professional Engineers of Oregon and the American Mathematical Association.In the summer of 1961 he participated in the Summer Institute in Mathematics sponsored by the National Science Foundation at Portland State College, which became Portland State University (PSU) in 1969.That summer he did college level work in math and the then budding field of computer science, and he did additional work there until his graduation from high school in 1963.He was a National Merit Scholarship finalist.

The fall of 1963 Peter entered Reed College.He continued to pursue his interest in math, but at Reed he discovered psychology, which became his intellectual passion.He left Reed the fall of 1966, but earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from PSU in 1969.Peter also earned a master’s degree in Asian studies and economics from the University of Oregon in 1983.

Peter suffered from chronic depression and was an alcoholic.He became sober for good in 1984, and devoted much of his career to helping others with similar challenges.He developed pragmatic cognitive therapies and accessible, behaviorally based materials and techniques to use with clients who ranged from teenage girls at a detention facility to adult Native Americans.Moving from Portland to Seattle in 1991, Peter changed his legal name from Peter A. Dvorak to Peter D. Albert, and expanded his interests to include ways to more effectively communicate with people needing to make changes in their lives.He hosted and produced programs on public access television, including Seattle Stop Smoking; became active in Toastmasters, winning a regional competition; and developed and led workshops for both clients and addiction therapy professionals.

By 2004, however, a complex of medical conditions ended his career in addiction counseling.Faced with chronic pain and limitations in his ability to write by hand, type, use a mouse, or drive, he moved back to Portland and started a new career tutoring statistics.Living in a modest downtown apartment, he built a client base among students in the social sciences and business at PSU.Over a ten year period he helped them not only to pass exams, but to overcome math phobia and acquire an appreciation for and competence in using statistical tools.

Peter became fascinated by the work of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and others in the field of cognition. His area of interest was how cognitive biases are rooted in the way neural networks are structured.He cultivated collaborative relationships with faculty in the Psychology Department and the Systems Science Program at PSU; gave informal presentations; and was instrumental in creating the Cognition and Systems Society and neural network reading group.Peter’s work products will soon be available on the web for all to enjoy.

Peter’s drive to share his discoveries to benefit others was with him until the end.He was a favorite with caregivers because he was engaging, cooperative, and appreciative.One day he told his hospice nurse that if he gained strength he would write a booklet called, “How to be a Patient Patient,” and verbally gave her a list of the points he would cover.She wrote them down and later shared them at a staff meeting.Days before he died she told him that his list would be published in their newsletter.Although he was weak and fading in and out of consciousness, he smiled with pleasure.