About Hildegard Peplau

Hildegard Peplau was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on September 1st, 1909. After graduating from the Pottstown, Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing in 1931 she worked as an operating room supervisor at Pottstown Hospital. She later received a B.A. in interpersonal psychology from Bennington College, Vermont, in 1943, an M.A. in psychiatric nursing from Teachers College, Columbia, New York, in 1947, and an Ed.D in curriculum development from Columbia in 1953.

During World War II, Hildegard Peplau was a member of the Army Nurse Corps and worked in a neuropsychiatric hospital in London, England. She also did work at Bellevue and Chestnut Lodge Psychiatric Facilities and was in contact with renowned psychiatrists Freida Fromm-Riechman and Harry Stack Sullivan. Hildegard Peplau holds numorous awards and positions. She retired in 1974. On March 17th, 1999, Hildegard Peplau died peacefully at her home in Sherman Oaks California after a brief illness. She was 89 years old.