Professor Emeritus Richard Keesey passed away peacefully at home on July 1, 2025, at the age of 90. An internationally recognized authority on energy expenditure and weight regulation, Keesey spent his entire faculty career in the Department of Psychology at UW–Madison, joining in 1962 and retiring in 1999. He was an expert in the neural/physiological regulation of body weight and the maintenance of body-weight set points. His demonstration that individuals have unique body-weight set points was groundbreaking in its day.
Beyond his scientific success, Dick was a wonderful person, says psychology professor Craig Berridge. “He was kind, humorous, and always supportive of, and generous with, his students, colleagues, friends and family. He was a wonderful senior mentor when I first joined the department. He will be sorely missed.”
A full obituary can be found here. The Department of Psychology sends its condolences to his family, friends, and all those who had the pleasure of working alongside him.