Oxford University Press is saddened to hear of the passing of Christopher Peterson, who died yesterday in his home.

One of the founders of the field of positive psychology, Chris’s focus over the last 15 years had been on the study of happiness, achievement, and physical well-being. His new book, Pursuing the Good Life, is scheduled to be published by OUP this December. He was also author of A Primer in Positive Psychology (OUP 2006) and Character Strengths and Virtues (OUP 2004, with Martin Seligman). His final blog post (on Psychology Today), published on 5 October 2012, was titled “Awesome: E Pluribus Unum / We are all the same, and each of us is unique, in death and in life.”

Abby Gross is a Psychology Editor at Oxford University Press.