A Tribute to Our Founding Father, Professor Bernard J. “Bud” LaLonde

• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12177
• Author: Walter Zinn,Thomas J. Goldsby
• Published date: 01 March 2018

Editorial

A Tribute to Our Founding Father, Professor Bernard J. “Bud”

LaLonde

Thomas J. Goldsby and Walter Zinn

The Ohio State University

This editorial pays tribute to the founding editor of the Journal of Business Logistics, Professor Bernard J. “Bud”LaLonde, who passed

away recently. Professor LaLonde’sinfluence on the field—and the individuals that compose it—is immeasurable. We reflect on his

career, achievements, and motivations for creating JBL. Further, we attempt to build on his proud legacy with an introduction of articles fea-

tured in the current issue.

Keywords: crowdsourced logistics; retail supply chains; supply chain sustainability; triple bottom line

Sir Isaac Newton is credited with humbly admitting “If I have seen

a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”This

sentiment poignantly depicts the cumulative nature of knowledge

accrual essential to the growth of any discipline. Sadly, the Logis-

tics discipline lost one such giant recently. Dr. Bernard J. “Bud”

LaLonde, the founding editor of the Journal of Business Logistics,

died peacefully at his home in Granville, Ohio, on December 1,

2017. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1933. He earned a

bachelor’s degree in Economics from Notre Dame and a master’s

degree from the University of Detroit before earning his PhD from

Michigan State University in 1961. Upon graduating from Michi-

gan State, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Color-

ado before returning to Michigan State in 1965. Four years later, he

would join the Marketing and Logistics faculty at The Ohio State

University, where he would remain for the balance of his career.

Professor LaLonde is regarded as one of the “forefathers”of the

modern discipline of Supply Chain Management. He founded the

JBL in 1978. He was named the Raymond E. Mason Chaired Pro-

fessor of Transportation and Logistics in 1985. Dr. LaLonde

received numerous international awards and recognitions during his

career, including the CSCMP Distinguished Service Award, Harry

E. Salzberg Medallion, and the Eccles Medal. He authored more

than 120 articles, several monographs, books, and book chapters,

including one of the earliest textbooks on physical distribution. Dr.

LaLonde codirected the Supply Chain Management Research

Group and served as a resource to countless businesses around the

world. His greatest passion was mentoring students, and he chaired

over 60 doctoral dissertations.

To learn more about the man behind these foundational works

and monumental accomplishments, we encourage readers to view

the interview that Professor James Stock conducted with Dr.

LaLonde in 2007 (Stock 2007). As Stock alludes at the outset of

his conversation, “We often read the person’s books and journal

articles; we listen to their presentations at academic and/or profes-

sional meetings, and sometimes even have individual discussions

with them at various events and venues. However, we rarely get to

’know’the person beyond the professional aspects of their careers.”

We are grateful to Professor Stock for seizing the opportunity to

conduct these insightful personal interviews that allow current and

future students of Logistics and Supply Chain Management to get

to know Professor LaLonde and other luminaries of our field.

When asked by Stock to recount the most significant accom-

plishment of his academic career, LaLonde offered the following:

“In my whole career, 60 doctoral students. I think of all of the

things I’ve done... that’s been the most important thing I’ve

done. Because this is a rare business... this academic business;

you can clone yourself, you know, long before the biologists can

figure out how to do that, and we have people all over the world

that, hopefully, I’ve influenced in a positive way and [they] have

started their own programs, so it’s kind of cloning yourself and

being able to impact the future generations in the discipline and

that’s kind of a rare thing that academics have a corner on. So of

all the things I’ve done I would rank that number one.”

Upon learning of Professor LaLonde’s passing, touching

expressions of sorrow and admiration were offered by the profes-

sor’s former doctoral students. A small sample of the reflective

sentiments goes like this:

He was always so positive about Logistics, being a profes-

sor, and life. (Ernest Cadotte)

Corresponding author: Thomas J. Goldsby, Department of Market-

ing & Logistics, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State Univer-

sity, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA;

E-mail: goldsby.2@osu.edu

Journal of Business Logistics, 2018, 39(1): 4–6 doi: 10.1111/jbl.12177

© Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals