Business Scholar Vernon Dies at Age 85

Raymond Vernon, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs Emeritus at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) and renowned multinational business scholar, died on August 26 due to complications from cancer. He was 85.

"[He was] among the most influential architects of the institutions governing international relations in the 20th century," said Roger B. Porter, IBM Professor of Business and Government and Director of the KSG Center for Business and Government, with which Vernon was affiliated. "For over 20 years, Ray Vernon's full-time public service in Washington placed him at the center of the development of new institutions domestic and international."

Vernon, the son of Jewish immigrants to New York City from Russia, studied at the College of the City of New York, where he earned his B.A. cum laude in 1933. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University in 1941.

Over the course of two decades, Vernon had a remarkable career in public service. Working for the Securities and Exchange Commission, he conducted the first serious study of the behavior of floor traders and specialists on the New York Stock Exchange.

While on staff at the State Department, Vernon was a member of the Marshall Plan team that guided the economic revival of Europe in the aftermath of WWII, and he helped negotiate Japan into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Vernon's achievements continued through his two-year tenure in private enterprise, beginning in 1954, where he played a role in the creation of an American cultural icon: the M&M chocolate candy. As coordinator of the new product for Hawley and Hoops, the candy's manufacturer, Vernon was dubbed "the man who put the crunch in M&Ms."

Vernon came to Harvard in 1956, and excepting brief assignments with the Department of State, the Treasury Department and the World Bank, he never left.

His first affiliation with the University came in 1956, when the dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration recruited him to head that School's New York Metropolitan Region Study, a landmark in the field of urban planning. Since then, he has held numerous posts at the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government.

"Ray Vernon was considered the premiere scholar of the multi-national enterprise," said Porter, Vernon's colleague at KSG. "He was an astonishingly active member of the Center for Business and Government, regularly teaching two superb courses each year and continuing his steady stream of seminal books and articles."

Scheduled to teach again this fall, Vernon sent a new article to Porter for his feedback just a few days before he died.

Like Porter, Harvard Business School Dean Kim B. Clark praised Vernon's accomplishments in a statement.

"A mentor to many members of the Harvard Business School faculty, Ray inspired us all with the extraordinary quality of his work and his life," Clark said.

Vernon was also a world-class rower who continued to row with Cambridge Boat Club until last year. He broke the world record for his age group in the Crash-Bs, an indoor rowing competition, while in his 80s.

In a statement issued by the school, Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine expressed his gratitude for Vernon's many contributions.

"Ray Vernon possessed a wide-ranging knowledge of international trade and the economics of developing nations that contributed greatly to the expansion of Harvard's global focus in the postwar era," Rudenstine wrote. "We are grateful for the part he played in the life of Harvard, the nation and the world."

Vernon is survived by two daughters, Heidi Vernon and Susan Vernon Gerstenfeld, four granchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.