PROFESSOR EMERITUS PHILIP H. THURSTON DEAD AT 87
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| Philip H. Thurston Photo: Courtesy of Thurston Family |
BOSTON - Philip Hale Thurston, an authority on manufacturing and planning and an active member of the Harvard Business School faculty from 1958 until his retirement in 1989, died March 24, 2006 peacefully at home with his family in Weston Massachusetts. He was 87.
Born in Ocean Park, Maine (a part of Old Orchard Beach), on August 20, 1918, Thurston was the third of six children of Frank Hale Thurston and Alice (Lee) Wilson Thurston. He grew up in both Yonkers, NY and Maine.
He earned his undergraduate economics degree from Columbia College in 1940 and took a position with Corning Glass, and then Sperry Gyroscope as a supervisor of office services. In his teens, during college, and after graduation, Thurston spent several summers working in the Ocean Park Hotel, a seasonal hotel owned by his father. After his father's death in 1941, he managed the hotel for his mother for several more summers. He served in the US Army Air Force from 1942 to 1946 teaching flight instructors how to train pilots in instrument flying.
After the war, Thurston earned an MS in management from Columbia Business School before becoming a pioneer in computer programming at General Electric where he learned to use paper punch cards. While at GE, he was part of a study group that recommended the purchase of one of the first IBM mainframe computers, and was among the first people at that company to learn to use the computer and incorporate the technology into his work. In 1955, he took a leave of absence to continue his education at Harvard Business School, and upon completing his DBA he was invited to join the faculty.
A business man who became a teacher, Thurston always said that his favorite time was in the classroom, where he guided learning by the case method, subtly directing the discussion among his students. He would say that he tried to speak as little as possible in his classes because he felt the students could learn better from each other. He taught both in the MBA and Executive Education programs at Harvard Business School and was always a favorite teacher among the students, many of whom later invited him to consult and advise them further in their business endeavors. Twice he taught in an exchange program with the IMEDE Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland (now known as IMD). He wrote dozens of case studies and numerous articles for the Harvard Business Review. He was named the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration in 1979, and served as a unit head of Production and Operations Management from 1978 to 1981. Following his retirement, he continued serving on several committees at Harvard Business School as an emeritus professor.
His worldwide travels for both business and pleasure allowed him to make a huge and diverse group of friends, and he treasured and fostered those friendships all his life. He spoke reverently of his mother and the life lessons she taught him, and often attributed his liberal politics, open mind, and egalitarian beliefs to her influence. He had impeccable manners and was always the gentleman. A self-described feminist, he was a member of the League of Women Voters and a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood. Both before and after his retirement he was a participant in the local town government in Weston, where he served on the Finance Committee and the DPW formation committee.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Jean; his son, Bruce; his daughter-in-law, Victoria; two grandchildren; and his sister, Helen Condict, of Concord, NH.
A memorial service will be held at the First Parish Church in Weston at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, April 4, 2006. Memorial donations can be made to the charity of your choice.