Jorge Mario Silva-Risso

He is survived by his wife, Adriana, his three children, Alejandro, Fabiana, and Mario, and three grandchildren, Lena, Dom, and Nico, his siblings Adriana and Nestor, his nephews Gustavo, Esteban and Gonzalo, and his niece Victoria. He will be buried in Uruguay, his home country.

Jorge was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Edelma Risso and Juan Antonio Silva. He graduated from the Universidad de la República, in Uruguay, where he studied accounting and economics and began his career working in accounting and corporate finance while teaching courses at the Universidad de la República. He attended the UCLA Anderson School of Business as a Fulbright scholar, earning an MBA (1991) and a Ph.D. in Management (1996). His dissertation received the prestigious Clayton Award from the Marketing Science Institute.

After completing his Ph. D., he settled in California with his family and joined J.D. Power & Associates, where he started the Marketing Science group and became its Executive Director. In 2003, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Riverside School of Business as an Assistant Professor, achieving the rank of Professor in 2013.

Jorge was exceptionally curious and undaunted by diverse challenges. He was tenacious—instead of feeling defeated when things did not work out, he adapted and sought out new solutions to achieve his goals. These traits enabled him to flourish in both the academic and business worlds, and to develop synergies between the two.

A fitness enthusiast, Jorge was very proud of twice completing the Los Angeles Marathon (each time under 4 hours!), though a knee injury kept him from running his third. Afterwards, he took up cycling, boxing, and loved staying active. Jorge loved the beach, music—seeing the Rolling Stones was a personal highlight—and travel. He enjoyed attending academic conferences where he could exchange ideas, see new places, meet new colleagues, and catch up with old friends. He took great pleasure in hosting friends and family, and loved showing off his asado and mojitos.

Most of all, he was a devoted husband, father, and son. He met Adriana at university when they were 19; they remained partners for nearly 47 years. He cherished their marriage, and loudly celebrated their anniversaries. He delighted in his children, joyfully marking every first day of school, every graduation, and every one of their awards. Though he was separated from his late mother by 10,000 kilometers, he was always attentive—vigilant about her well-being and never missed a weekly phone call.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests that a contribution be made to the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center to help defeat the disease that cut his life short at https://tinyurl.com/PennFTD .