BLANNING, Robert Wendell – Professor of Management, emeritus of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, passed away on the 25th of June 2013 at the age of 76. Robert was born on the 12th of July 1936, Robert to the late Wendell Yeager Blanning and Christine Anne Hoffman Blanning. He is survived by his brother, Bruce Blanning and his wife Sandy, and their children, Natalie, Brian, Ryan, and Cherish. After serving as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army early in his young adult life, Robert became most known and renowned among his circles of influence with his educational accomplishments and business acumen. He graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Pennsylvania State University in 1958, earned a M.S. in Operations Research from the Case Institute of Technology in 1964, and matriculated with a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. From there, Blanning’s global experience combined the worlds of academia and business. He came to the Owen Graduate School of Management in 1980 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His previous positions included the College of Business and Public Administration and Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the National University of Singapore. His overseas professional and developmental business efforts in Singapore and Hong Kong were of utmost importance to him. Before his academic roles, Blanning served as an operations research analyst for the Mobil Oil Corporation and as a nuclear engineer at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory of the General Electric Company. Blanning’s research focused on decision support systems, information systems research and artificial intelligence. He had articles featured in such prominent publications such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, the Columbia Journal of World Business, the International Journal of Management, Futures and Long Range Planning. Until recent years, he served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Management Information Systems. A Graveside service held in his honor will commence at one-thirty in the afternoon on Friday, the 28th of June 2013 at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville, TN. The family cordially invites friends to gather with them for a time of remembrance and visitation at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home from six o’clock until eight o’clock this evening.
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