Courtesy of the Holton family

Richard H. Holton

Richard H. Holton, professor emeritus and former dean of the Haas School of Business, died Oct. 24 at the age of 79, after battling cancer and Parkinson's disease. Holton was a leader in the fields of marketing, international business, and entrepreneurship and left a lasting imprint in these areas at Haas. He served as dean of Haas from 1967 to 1975.

Holton graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1947, earned a master's in economics from Ohio State University in 1952, and then a doctorate in economics from Harvard University. From 1951 to '52 Holton was assistant director of marketing projects at the Social Science Research Center at the University of Puerto Rico, work that led to his 1955 monograph, "Marketing Efficiency in Puerto Rico," written with J. K. Galbraith and others. He was assistant professor of economics at Harvard from 1953 to 1957. In 1957 he came to Berkeley as an associate professor in the School of Business Administration (later renamed the Haas School of Business) and remained there for the rest of his career. In 1959 Holton became director of the campus's Institute of Business and Economics Research and reorganized it to reflect the growing interest in business science.

President John F. Kennedy appointed Holton assistant secretary of commerce in February 1963, and he remained in government service until February 1965, when he returned to Berkeley. His continuing interest in consumer protection resulted in a year's appointment by President Lyndon Johnson as chairman of the President's Consumer Advisory Council. He then served from 1968 to 1972 as chairman of the Public Advisory Committee on Truth in Lending Regulations of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

In 1967 Holton became dean of the School of Business, where he fostered stronger relationships with business practice and leaders, and served on numerous advisory boards of business organizations. In 1970 Holton started a course in entrepreneurship and business development, one of the first such courses at any business school, enlisting a widely experienced entrepreneur, Leo Helzel, MBA '68, to co-teach the course. This association led to new support for research and teaching in entrepreneurship and the formation, with contributions from Williams-Sonoma founder Howard Lester, of the Haas School's Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. To reach another important clientele, the San Francisco MBA Program was established in 1972 to serve highly qualified candidates who could not put their careers on hold by enrolling in a full-time MBA program.

In 1981 Holton expanded on a longtime interest in international business when he became dean of visiting faculty of the newly established National Center for Industrial Science and Technology Management Development, which was part of the Dalian Institute of Technology in the People's Republic of China. Between 1980 and 1992 he wrote a number of articles on the emergence of a modern, marketbased economy in China, coedited a book, United States–China Relations (1989), and led CAA-sponsored Bear Trek trips in China.

In 1991, the year he retired, Holton was awarded the Berkeley Citation. A generous philanthropist and devoted member of public interest organizations, he joined the board of directors of the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley within a year of moving to Berkeley, and his board membership with Alta Bates Hospital spanned nearly four decades. He also served on the board of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation, the Council of Better Business Bureaus, and The World Affairs Council of Northern California. He was also on the board of trustees at Mills College.

He is survived by his wife, Constance; his children, Melissa, Jane Kriss '74, and Tim; and three grandchildren.

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