H.J. “Jerry” Zoffer, the 28-year dean of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration under whose “remarkable leadership the school advanced dramatically in terms of quality, impact and reputation,” as current Dean Eugene Anderson memorialized him, died July 22, 2023, at 92.
“Jerry Zoffer was a giant among academic deans,” Anderson remarked to the University Times. “The Pitt Business community is deeply indebted to him for his vision and leadership, and his outstanding contributions to the growth of our faculty and programs. … He is an inspiration to us all and it is from his shoulders that we look forward to a promising future.”
Zoffer was dean from 1968 to 1996 and a faculty member for 67 years until 2020, directing Katz to become a top business school. He led the re-establishment of Pitt’s undergraduate business program, the construction of Mervis Hall, the institution of the part-time MBA and Executive MBA programs and the establishment of several new dual degree programs with other Pitt schools and colleges.
He also undertook a new partnership in Budapest for the school in the 1980s that led to the school’s Executive MBA Worldwide program. Pitt established the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Leadership and Ethics in 2016 to honor Zoffer’s many contributions during his career.
While at Pitt, he also served as president of the American Association of University Administrators and the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. He was on the boards of numerous business and community organizations. Among his many awards, in 1986 he was selected as man of the year in education by Vectors-Pittsburgh. He was also the author of many articles as well as books on individual and group decision-making under risk, the social responsibility of business, continuing education for managers, business ethics, corporate risk analysis, accounting education and improving institutional credibility.
In the memorial message on the Pitt Business website, Arjang Assad, dean of the school from 2015-22, said: “Jerry built one of the world’s strongest and most influential faculty groups in business ethics and corporate social responsibility. In the process, he put Pitt Business on the international map, taking us from a regionally recognized institution to one with global acclaim.”
Added Vicky Hoffman, business administration faculty member: “Jerry was a visionary leader who implemented initiatives we still value today. For example, Jerry was one of the first to actively recruit to Pitt’s MBA program Black students in the late 1960s and women in the early 1970s. He was instrumental in implementing the flagship one-year MBA program that had over 300 students in its heyday and was the force behind re-starting Pitt’s undergraduate College of Business Administration in the mid-1990s. After 28 years as dean, Jerry made the unusual move of going back to teaching, which he approached with the energy and enthusiasm he brought to everything he did.”
“The one word to describe Jerry Zoffer is indomitable,” recalled Carrie Leana, another of Zoffer’s Katz faculty colleagues. “He cared passionately about the Katz School and the University of Pittsburgh, and fought vigorously for its success, but always with that infectious grin and a twinkle in his eye. One just couldn’t say no to Jerry!”
Pre-deceased by his wife, Maye Rattner Zoffer, he is survived by his children Gayle (David MacNaughton) and Bill (Caryn Zimmerman); his brother Joseph; his grandchildren Josh, Emily, and Mollie; his long-time partner Sorel Berman; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial contributions are suggested to the University of Pittsburgh General Scholarship Fund or to Temple Sinai of Pittsburgh.
— Marty Levine