Obituary

David A. Thomas, who served as dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1981-1984, died at his home in Venice, Fla., June 28. Thomas, who was 86, retired from the Johnson School in 1984 following a 31-year career as a faculty member and senior administrator.

A native of Texas, Thomas earned his B.A. from Texas Tech University in 1937 at 20. A captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he saw combat in the Pacific theater during World War II. He returned to Texas, earning an MBA degree and a CPA at Texas Christian University, where he taught accounting. He was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1949.

In 1953 Thomas joined the accounting faculty of Cornell's then relatively new School of Business and Public Administration (founded in 1946), turning down offers from more established business schools. Rising rapidly, he was named associate professor in 1956 and full professor in 1957. He stepped in as acting dean of the school in 1961 then became associate dean in 1962. In addition to his administrative duties, he continued to teach and publish extensively in his field during the 1960s and 1970s. He was named dean of the school in 1981.

Under Thomas' leadership, the school underwent a critical period of self-evaluation. Faced with diminished student interest in its public and health administration programs, it formed a task force, relinquished those programs and in 1983 was renamed the Graduate School of Management, to reflect its new, single focus on business education. Those changes helped attract a $20 million endowment gift from Samuel C. Johnson and the Johnson family in 1984, the largest ever to a business school at the time.

On the eve of his retirement, Thomas said of his career at the Johnson School: "If I could have written the script, I wouldn't have changed a thing. I'm proud to have been associated with Cornell and with the school. It has been a precious experience."

In addition to his academic career, Thomas was administrator of the Charles E. Merrill Trust from the 1950s to the 1980s, overseeing the distribution of some $120 million to educational institutions, medical schools, religious charities and social-service organizations.

He is survived by his wife, Libby, of Venice, Fla., daughter Annie Thomas (Tim Hughes) and two grandchildren, of Medfield, Mass.