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William C. (Bill) Frederick

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Dear SBE members,

As some of you may have heard, on Friday, March 16, William C. (Bill) Frederick passed away after a short illness.  Bill was a true legend in the social issues, corporate social responsibility, ethics and values fields, and, toward the end of his career, bridged social science thought with the natural sciences.  He was one of the founders of the SIM Division in the Academy of Management and of the Society for Business Ethics.

While for many his legacy will be his impact on our scholarship through the classic From CSR1 to CSR2 paper, or his impact in our classrooms as we used the current edition of the market-leading Business and Society textbook, or his vision imparted through the recent plethora of his books – many written after his retirement from teaching — e.g., Natural Corporate Management:  From the Big Bang to Wall Street (2012), Corporation, Be Good! The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility (2006), and Values, Nature, and Culture in the American Corporation (1995).  Yet, for many of us his legacy is found through his care and championing of his doctoral students.  He mentored, trained and supported us in so many ways over his four decades as dissertation chair and collaborator.   He was tremendously proud of our scholarly successes and appreciative of our loyalty to him.

A memorial gathering is being planned in Pittsburgh on April 7th.  Details will be available from me soon.  Also, please send me (weberj@duq.edu) your stories, thoughts or comments to share at the memorial service if you wish.

Contributions in Bill’s honor are welcome at WQED-FM station in Pittsburgh or the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

With sadness but in deep appreciation, on behalf of Bill’s many doctoral students.

Update: In case you are in the greater Pittsburgh area or were thinking of coming to Pittsburgh, the memorial gathering for Bill Frederick is scheduled for Saturday, April 7, 10:30AM at the WQED Station, 4802 Fifth Ave., 15213The service will be taped and I can provide a link to this recording after the service.

Jim Weber

Jim Weber, Ph.D.
Professor of Business Ethics and Management

Executive Director, Institute for Ethics in Business

Co-editor, BAS 360, an annual book series
Rockwell Hall 712, Duquesne University
600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15282 USA
office: 412-396-5475
fax: 412-396-4764
www.business.duq.edu/faculty/Weber