Born Barbara Hrevnack in
Newark, New Jersey, on August 13, 1949, she earned a
B.A. from
Montclair State College and a
Ph.D. in
clinical psychology from
New York University before becoming a licensed psychologist and a researcher. She was the chair and later member of the Committee on Human Research at the
American Psychological Association and a standing member of the
National Institute of Health, Center for Scientific Review's Adult Psychopathology and Disorders of Aging study section. While
suicide prevention contracts had been in use for some time, Stanley's research has proven their efficacy in dramatically decreasing the risk of suicide in
post-discharge period and is said to have "helped shift the focus of suicide research toward practical, concrete and timely interventions."
Death A resident of
Chatham Borough, New Jersey, Stanley died on January 25, 2023, at a hospice in
Scotch Plains, New Jersey, of
ovarian cancer. She was survived by her children, Melissa Morris and Thomas Stanley, and siblings John Hrevnack, Michael Hrevnack and Joanne Kennedy. == References ==