Lee Bach (1915–1994) is considered one of the outstanding influential figures in the evolution of Stanford GSB and American business education in general.
Bach, the Frank E. Buck Professor of Economics and Public Policy, was born in Victor, Iowa in 1915. When he retired in 1983 after over four decades in academe, he was author of one of the most popular textbooks in economics, a recipient of numerous awards, chief architect and first Dean of the Carnegie Mellon School of Industrial Administration, and a key figure in the academic transformation of the Stanford GSB under deans Arbuckle, Miller, and Jaedicke.
— Former Dean Robert Jaedicke
The dramatic changes occurring at Stanford GSB during these years were often associated with Bach himself. Reflecting back, he noted, “The wave of the future, as we saw it, was to dramatically improve students’ and faculty members’ intellectual quality: to revolutionize the pedantic MBA curriculum which prevailed at most business schools then, inserting a ‘discipline’ base, to stress effective problem-solving using those disciplines, and to increase emphasis on basic research and doctoral programs.”
His dedication and energy helped take Stanford GSB from ‘good to great’ in the decades after 1960.
Bach died on September 29, 1994.