printable versionGayton Germane, transportation management expert, dead at 88
BY CATHY CASTILLO
Gayton Germane
Gayton Germane, professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who in the 1950s founded one of the school's first executive education programs, died Jan. 17 of pneumonia. He was 88.
He had retired in 1988 and was the UPS Foundation Professor of Logistics, Emeritus, at the time of his death. During his career, Germane headed research projects that explored reusable space satellites and did early work on computer-assisted information programs for transit systems. He appeared before Congress as an expert witness and offered transportation policy advice to five U.S. presidential administrations as a consultant, policy director or commission member.
Germane was an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School in 1952 before moving to Stanford as part of a generation of young academics hired following World War II to strengthen Stanford's Business School. Shortly after arriving, Germane established the Transportation Management Program for Executives, the school's second executive education program. It continued for 14 years.
In the same era, Germane also served on the school's faculty committee charged with making recommendations for implementing "The New Look," a movement supported by the Ford Foundation and other reformers urging business schools across the country to become less oriented toward specific industries and move toward broader, research-based disciplines.
Germane was born in 1920 in Carroll, Iowa, to Charles and Edith Germane. His father taught at the University of Missouri, and his mother taught at Stephens College and later at San Jose State University. Germane earned a bachelor's degree in economics, with distinction, from the University of Missouri and an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. He also earned a master's degree and doctorate in economics from Harvard University.
In 1949 he married Janet Reinertson, a fellow economics graduate student. They had two children: daughter Charlotte, a Stanford alumna, who today lives in Nevada City, Calif., and a son, Bruce, who died as a young man.
He wrote five books, most of them dealing with transportation, and was an editor or major contributor to a dozen more. He was editor and a contributor to The Executive Course, published in 1987, that was later translated into Japanese. He served as an editor of the journal Logistics and Transportation Review and was a referee of the journal Annals of the Society of Logistics Engineers.
Germane was director of transportation planning and research for United States Steel Corp. for three years in addition to serving as director of transportation policy for the Defense Department at the Pentagon. He was honored with the John Drury Sheehan Award in 1971, given by the National Council of Physical Distribution Management for contributions to the field.
In 1986 Germane drew national attention when he introduced an MBA elective course at Stanford's Business School on managing business enterprises in space. The first course of its kind in the country, it dealt with communication satellites, remote sensing and launch services, and the space station era. Students in the course met with representatives of a variety of organizations including NASA Ames Research Center, Ford Aerospace and Communications Corp., and Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.
In his non-academic life, Germane traveled extensively on four continents, sailed in the Caribbean and in the 1975 Transpacific Yacht Race, and enjoyed fencing, hiking, music and gardening.
In addition to his wife, Germane is survived by a sister, Edith Germane Hurd of Vineyard Haven, Mass., and his daughter. A memorial service and reception is planned at the Stanford Faculty Club at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 2.
The family suggests that contributions in his memory be sent to El Camino Hospital Foundation, 2500 Grant Road, M/S WIL210, Mountain View, CA 94040.
The family has established an e-mail account for sharing memories at friendsofgayton@gmail.com. Please write to that address by April 21 if you plan to attend the memorial and reception.
Cathy Castillo is director of publications and web content at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.