Born in April 1931, Ram Dass was originally called Richard Alpert. He was raised in Newton, Massachusetts into Judaism by his Jewish parents, Gertrude and George. During his bar mitzvah, aged 13, he was reportedly left feeling hollow by his religious upbringing and decided to become an atheist. During the 1950s, Alpert conducted an academic career, eventually gaining a PhD in psychology and going on to teach at Stanford University. Along with his friend, Timothy Leary, Alpert would become interested in the therapeutic possibilities of the psychoactive drug, LSD. It was this, he claimed, that subsequently opened his mind to God and spirituality.