Renato Tagiuri, HBS professor emeritus, 91

Renato Tagiuri, professor of social sciences in business administration emeritus at Harvard Business School (HBS) and a renowned expert on interpersonal relations and the human aspects of management as well as a pioneer in the field of family businesses, died on April 15. He was 91.

A member of the Harvard faculty since 1952, Tagiuri became a professor at HBS in 1957, where he spent the next three decades teaching in the School’s executive education programs, first in the advanced management program for senior executives and then in the owner/president management program for entrepreneurs and leaders of family-owned organizations. An influential scholar and superb teacher, he left the active faculty in 1986, but continued to write, lecture, and consult long after his retirement.

“Ron Tagiuri was blessed with a great mind that he used relentlessly to explain complicated, indeed messy, problems involving people, relationships, and organizations,” said senior lecturer John Davis, faculty chair of the School’s families in business program and a longtime colleague of Tagiuri. “He provided orderly, constructive approaches to managing these challenges. His ability to do this so fluidly has much to do with the fact that he deeply understood human psychology and tackled problems like the exacting engineer he was.”

A memorial service is planned for later in the spring. To read the full obituary.