What Elder Wisdom Can Teach Us: Insights from the Cornell Legacy Project, with Karl A. Pillemer

> Click here for the Zoom link

Can our elders serve as “experts” on how to live our lives? To answer this question, Dr. Karl Pillemer, gerontologist and Professor of Human Development at Cornell University, decided to seek advice on how to live from the oldest Americans. In the Cornell Legacy Project, he surveyed over 2000 elders, asking them for their most important lessons for living – on topics like marriage, career, parenting, aging, regrets, happiness, and overcoming loss. In this talk, he highlights some of the key findings from the 15-year project, focusing on practical advice from our elders for living a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling life.

Karl A. Pillemer, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned family sociologist and gerontologist whose research examines how individuals and their families develop and change throughout their lives. An engaging presenter, he has been interviewed by the CBC, CBS, and numerous other news programs. Over the past fifteen years, he has conducted a program of research on the practical advice of older people, exploring how elder wisdom can help younger people live more fulfilling lives. This work led to the publication of two books: 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, and 30 Lessons for Loving: Advice from the Wisest Americans on Love, Relationships, and Marriage. Most recently, he has explored advice for dealing with difficult family problems, leading to the book Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them. He has authored five other books and over 150 scientific publications and speaks throughout the world on issues related to aging.

Karl Pillemer is the Hazel E. Reed Professor of Human Development at Cornell University and Professor of Gerontology in Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also the founder and Director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging