A Tribute to Elinor and Vincent Ostrom

• Author: James L. Perry
• Date: 01 November 2012
• Published date: 01 November 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02652.x

Editorial

A Tribute to Elinor and Vincent Ostrom 779

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 72, Iss. 6, pp. 779. © 2012 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.111/j.1540-6210.2012.02652.x.

James L. Perry

Editor-in-Chief

In June, two great intellects left us. Elinor Ostrom,

2009 Nobel laureate in economic sciences, for-

mer president of the American Political Science

Association, and Distinguished Professor at Indiana

University, lost her battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Lin,” as she was known to colleagues and friends,

was 78. Within a few short weeks, Vincent Ostrom,

former editor of Public Administration Review, Arthur

F. Bentley Professor Emeritus of Political Science at

Indiana University, and Lin’s husband of almost

50 years, succumbed to prostate cancer and age.

Vincent was 92.  ey cofounded what is now the

Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop on Political

 eory and Policy Analysis, located at Indiana Uni-

versity Bloomington.

 e Ostroms leave behind a monumental legacy.

Since their deaths, Elinor and Vincent have been

memorialized in the New York Times,1  e Economist,2

and many other media outlets and blogs.3 I refer

readers to these sources for more details about their

extraordinary lives and tributes from friends and

colleagues.

In tribute to Vincent and Elinor, I have assembled

a virtual issue of PAR that shares a selection of the

Ostrom legacy during the more than half century in

which Elinor, Vincent, and their students and col-

leagues contributed to PAR.4 I have assembled

11 articles that either were written by one or both

of the Ostroms or owe a large debt to ideas that

originated with them. Two of the articles, “Ref‌l ec-

tions on Vincent Ostrom, Public Administration, and

Polycentricity” (January/February 2012) and

“Resilience in Public Administration:  e Work of

Elinor and Vincent Ostrom from a Public Admini-

stration Perspective” (March/April 2010), provide

excellent insights into the collective body of contribu-

tions that Elinor and Vincent Ostrom made to public

admini stration during their lives.  e virtual issue will

be available until the end of 2012.

In addition to their many individual achievements

and recognitions, the Ostroms’ life together was a

remarkable story of intellectual synergy, partnership,

and love. We are thankful for the legacy they have left

us, both as individuals and as a couple.

Notes

1.  e New York Times article commemorating Elinor Ostrom

appears at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/business/

elinor-ostrom-winner-of-nobel-in-economics-dies-at-78.html.

2.  e Economist highlights Elinor Ostrom’s legacy at http://www.

economist.com/node/21557717 and http://www.

economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2012/06/tribute.

3. Other blogs include http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/

normal/22741.html and http://www.indiana.edu/~workshop/

tributes/.

4.  e virtual issue is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-6210/homepage/

virtual_issue__a_tribute_to_elinor_ostrom_and_vincent_

ostrom.htm.

A Tribute to Elinor and Vincent Ostrom