Cultural Anthropologist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for his book The Denial of Death in which he argues that human civilization itself is essentially an elaborate defense mechanism against the knowledge that we are mortal.
While serving in World War II his infantry liberated a Nazi concentration camp.
He won the Pulitzer Prize four months after his death.
He was married to Marie Becker-Pos.
He often drew on the work of Sigmund Freud in his research.
