Dr. Eva Dreikurs Ferguson, 96, died peacefully in her home on Tuesday, December 16, 2025. She was born on August 28, 1929, to Stephanie (Koch) and Rudolf Dreikurs and grew up in Chicago, Illinois, lovingly cared for by Josephine Pollack, Sadie and Rudolf Dreikurs, and Bertha Dreikurs Simkin. She was devoted to her brother, Eric Dreikurs, her cousins Eva Galson and Erich Wejrowsky, and her best friends Ruthie Sherman, Madonna Stahl, Lorraine Kauffman, and Annette Baich. Eva earned her B. S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois, where she met her first husband, John Alexander “Lex” Ferguson, the father of her four children, Rodney Ferguson (Kathleen Egan), Beth Wee (Jim Wee), Bruce Ferguson (Karen Gray), and Linda Ferguson (Cindy Landon). She earned her M.A. in Psychology from the University of Melbourne and her Ph.D. from Northwestern University and worked as a clinical psychologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Melbourne, Australia. In 1977, she married George “Bill” Linden, the father of Melanie, Gretchen, Adrienne, and Christina Linden. She had six grandchildren, Ryan Wee, Alexander Ferguson, Nicole Ferguson, Kirsten Wee, Eric Ferguson, and Adam Ferguson, and four great-grandchildren, Addelyn, Finnan, Joanna, and Lin Ferguson.

Dr. Ferguson was a faculty member in the psychology department at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for over 50 years. She was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a founding member and Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and a member of the Psychonomic Society, Sigma Xi the Scientific Research Honor Society, and the North American Society for Adlerian Psychology (NASAP). Dr. Ferguson spent research sabbaticals as a Visiting Professor at the University of Vermont, Northwestern University, and the University of California-Berkeley. She was the author of Motivation (Oxford University Press, 2000) and Adlerian Theory: An Introduction (Adler University, 2018) and co-author, along with Rudolf Dreikurs and Pearl Cassel, of Discipline Without Tears (Wiley, 2004). Continuing her father’s work in Adlerian Psychology, Dr. Ferguson was on the faculty of Adler University in Chicago (started by her father as the Adler Institute) and served as a board member and co-chair of the International Committee of Adlerian Summer Schools and Institutes (ICASSI) since 1979. She loved opera, the symphony, traveling, and spending time with her family. A memorial service for Dr. Ferguson will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to ICASSI.  Condolences may be shared online at weberfuneralhome.com.