A Friend's Tribute: Gaylord A. Jentz—August 7, 1931–November 23, 2009

• Author: Robert A. Prentice
• Published date: 01 June 2010
• Date: 01 June 2010
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1714.2010.01093.x

A Friend’s Tribute: Gaylord A. JentzFAugust 7,

1931–November 23, 2009

‘‘If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of

giants.’’

FSir Isaac Newton

It is essential that the American Business Law Journal (ABLJ) note the sudden

passing of Gaylord A. Jentz, Herbert D. Kelleher Professor of Business

Law at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. Gay

was a giant in the business law profession and a stalwart of the Academy of

Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) and of ABLJ.

A native of Wisconsin, he was a scholarship tennis player at the Uni-

versity of Wisconsin at Madison where he earned his B.A., MBA, and J.D.

degrees. A veteran of the Korean War, Gay began his business law teaching

career at the University of Oklahoma in 1958. He moved to the University

of Texas in 1965 and taught there until 1998. For the next decade and up

until the day of his death, he served the University of Texas, the McCombs

School of Business, and his discipline in a variety of capacities.

Gay Jentz was a scholar, an award-winning classroom teacher, and a

wonderful university citizen. He was a long-time departmental chair. He

served on virtually every important committee and governing body at both

the business school and university levels. At his funeral, former business

school dean and university president Bill Cunningham eulogized Gay by

affirming that, whenever he had difficult issues to be resolved or important

tasks to be undertaken, he called upon Gay Jentz. Gay’s contributions to the

University of Texas earned him the prestigious Civitatis Award for service.

Gay played a major role in turning the University of Texas’ business

school into a modern research institution and built one of the largest and

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