A Brief Tribute to George A. Steiner (1912-2014)
Last week I learned of the recent death (June 24) of Professor George A. Steiner, professor emeritus of business & society at UCLA.
Many in our field may not remember George because he has been retired for many years, but he was one of the founders of the business and society field and one of the SIM Division's early leaders. George was President of the Academy of Management in 1972 and received the SIM Division's first Sumner Marcus Award in 1983 when it was first awarded. I was told that George played a significant role in getting SIM to be named as one of AOM's initial set of divisions when AOM first divisionalized in 1971-1972. I learned this when I attended my first SIM meeting in 1972. I'm sure George was pleased when IABS was founded as a related and often overlapping organization with SIM.
George authored one of the earliest books in our field – Business and Society, 1971, Random House. In his lifetime he authored or co-authored over 30 books and was quite well-known outside of our field, especially in business policy and strategic planning.
My early remembrances of George are especially due to the G.E.-sponsored summer seminars he organized in the early-to-mid 1970s at UCLA. Many of us were motivated to enter the field in part due to attendance at these seminars and they played a very important role in inspiring all those who attended to pay closer attention to the social and natural environments in our thinking, teaching, and research and to business-and-society interrelationships as well.
George's son, John F. Steiner, picked up co-authoring the business and society book and at last notice was about in its 13th edition. John has been a vital member of SIM for decades and was also in leadership roles in our division.
In a recent communication sent by John to the Fellows of AOM, John observed about his father: "To his last days he was engaged in the course of life, following the news, listening to lectures on history and philosophy, and ordering from Amazon." May we all be as blessed.
Thank you, George, for all you did for the business and society field, and the SIM Division. Everyone who knew you has been inspired by your leadership over the decades.