Remembering Donald C. Stone

• Author: Harvey L. White
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12256
• Date: 01 September 2014
• Published date: 01 September 2014

Perspective

Harvey L. White is professor at the

University of Pittsburgh and visiting

scholar at the University of Delaware. He

is past president of the American Society

for Public Administration, fellow of the

National Academy of Public Administration,

and founding chair of the Consortium for

International Management, Policy, and

Development.

E-mail: hlw@pitt.edu

Remembering Donald C. Stone 559

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 74, Iss. 5, pp. 559–560. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12256.

Harvey L. White

University of Pittsburgh

Much has been written about Donald C.

Stone and his profound and lasting inf‌l u-

ence on the professionalization of public

administration. He has been described as a consum-

mate administrator, a visionary, a champion for public

service, a public citizen, and an internationalist, an

optimist, an innovator, an excellent teacher, and an

inspirational leader,1 as well as a devoted partner to his

wife Alice and a loving father to their four children—

“the nearest thing to an all-round Renaissance

man to be produced by the public administration

community.”2

I saw the truth of these characterizations very early

during my tenure in the Graduate School of Public

and International Af‌f airs (GSPIA) at the University

of Pittsburgh, when I made an unannounced visit to

his of‌f‌i ce to introduce myself. He had already retired

as our founding dean and relocated the Coalition to

Improve Management in State and Local Government

to Carnegie Mellon University. To my surprise,

Stone knew who I was, had expected my visit, men-

tioned my recent publication on intergovernmental

relations, knew of my work with the Section on

Intergovernmental Administration and Management

of the American Society for Public Administration

(ASPA), and already had plans to involve me in his

work. He was always prepared, and he expected others

to be equally prepared. He also always made time

to give guidance to those of us who were new to the

profession.

His instinct for talent and persuasion allowed him to

attract the best practitioners and scholars to work with

him. As Chester Newland observed, “People with dis-

cipline, expertise, and professionalism were sought out

by Don Stone.”3 He inspired, trained, managed, and

led nearly f‌i ve generations of public administrators.

In seven decades of def‌i ning, establishing, developing,

ref‌i ning, and promoting public administration, Dean

Stone championed the development of six professional

associations and resurrected several others. He was a

founding member of ASPA, the National Academy of

Public Administration, the Society for International

Development, the International Association of

Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA),

and the American Public Works Association (APWA).

He also helped revitalize the International Institute

of Administrative Sciences after World War II. ASPA,

IASIA, and APWA all have awards named in his

honor.

Donald Stone pioneered the intricate linkage between

domestic and international af‌f airs that has become

a standard attribute of current public administra-

tion praxis. Even though his early academic interest

in international relations was temporarily eclipsed

by invitations to pursue a master of science degree

in public administration at Syracuse University

and subsequently serve as assistant city manager in

Cincinnati, Ohio, it was never extinguished. It resur-

faced during his tenure as research director for the

International City Management Association and con-

tinued to be ref‌l ected in his work as executive director

of the Public Administration Service. For nine years

as assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget, he

used research from other countries to help the agency

improve organization, management, and methods

in the U.S. federal government.  e international

activities branch that he created in his Administrative

Management Division to study developments in inter-

national organizations proved very useful during his

planning for the U.S. government’s war organization

and postwar readjustment. He found reports on Great

Britain’s ef‌f ort particularly useful.

Donald Stone’s career at the federal level spanned

the Great Depression and World War II, when he

helped shape domestic and foreign policy under both

the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman

administrations. He assisted the State Department

with formatting procedures for the Public Works

Administration and planning and implementing the

Works Progress Administration. Stone helped draft the

original charters of the United Nations and the United

Remembering Donald C. Stone