It is with deep regret that we have learned of the death of the founding dean of our School on 1 August 2016
Harrie Langman - (1931-2016)
From 1964 to 1971 he was (endowed) professor of business economics at the Nederlandse Economische Hogeschool, predecessor of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, of which he was an alumnus. In 1966, he was invited to join a committee to explore the feasibility of a new business school, and in 1970 he became the founding dean of the Interfaculteit Bedrijfskunde (Graduate School of Management), predecessor of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) He held dozens of executive and supervisory positions during his long and distinguished career and served as a minister of economic affairs in the Dutch government from July 1971 to May 1973.
In a recent interview in RSM Outlook, where he shares his personal recollections of those early days, he says: “We wanted to give our students good insights into how a business should be run. And to have the skills to become a successful manager or a highly valuable member of a company who could contribute, not just with knowledge acquired from their own field, but with sufficient understanding to operate with people who had different sorts of knowledge.”
During that two hour conversation, his erudition and sharpness clearly appeared. He was an affable gentleman, and very much interested in how RSM is faring.
RSM is very grateful for Harrie Langman’s visionary and inspiring leadership during those early years of RSM, which laid the foundation of the leading international business school RSM is today. We are proud to be able to call him the founding dean of our School.
Our thoughts are with his partner, his children, and grandchildren.
On behalf of RSM faculty and staff,
Steef van de Velde
Dean
Rotterdam School of Management
Erasmus University
Photo kindly provided by Russell Gilbert