SALT LAKE CITY-- Dr. Frederick I. Herzberg, world renowned for his theories of "job enrichment" died Wednesday, January 19, 2000 at the University Hospital in Salt Lake City at the age of 76.
Fred was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on April 18, 1923 of immigrant Jewish parents, Gertrude and Lewis Herzberg from Lithuania. He spent his boyhood in New York City. He grew up as a street-wise scrapper but with a scholar's instinct.When he was a young man of 16, he excelled in the New York Regents' Examination and was able to enter the prestigious City College of New York where he obtained his bachelor's degree. He went on to receive his master's and Ph.D. at the University of
Pittsburgh.
In 1944, Fred married Shirley Bedell of Holden, Massachusetts. In 1948, their son Mark was born. Shirley graduated from medical school in 1961 at age 40, Case Western Reserve University Medical School's first female non-traditional student, thus opening doors for many non-traditional students to follow. She became a noted Salt Lake City pediatrician. She died in 1997.
As a 22 year old battle patrol sergeant in World War II, Fred was among the first liberators to enter the Dachau concentration camp. He was assigned the task of provisioning and providing health care for the hundreds of inmates spared in the Holocaust. War decorations include the Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman's Badge.
Dr. Herzberg was brought to Utah in 1972 by the late Dr. James C. Fletcher, president of the University of Utah, with the title of Distinguished Professor of Management at the U's College of Business, then headed by Dr. George Odiorne, also a leading lecturer and author on management. The U considered itself extremely fortunate to have recruited a figure of such eminence as Dr. Herzberg.
Dr. Herzberg had an established reputation long before coming to the U in industrial psychology, consulting, and public health administration. He was a distinguished professor of management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he established and chaired the Department of Industrial Mental Health. During his academic years, he also consulted world-wide to corporations and governments -- from the United States to the then Soviet Union, and from
Israel to Japan.
Known as the "Father of Job Enrichment" and the originator of the "Motivation-Hygiene Theory", Dr. Herzberg became both an icon and a legend among post-war visionaries such as Abraham Maslow, Peter Drucker, and Douglas MacGregor. In academic, management and scholarly circles, the mention of the surname "Herzberg" alone was sufficient to indicate an awareness and knowledge of his concepts and contributions. In 1995, the International Press announced that his book