Robert Eugene Klippel

Dr. R. Eugene Klippel, age 86, of Lakewood Ranch, FL, passed away on Wednesday, February 20, 2025. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1938 to parents Robert and Margaret Klippel (both deceased), Dr. Klippel was a proud United States Marine Corps veteran. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marketing from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Klippel held teaching posts at Harvard Business School, the University of Florida School of Business, The Seidman School of Business at Grand Valley State University (twice), the University of South Florida School of Business Administration, and the College of Business Administration at West Virginia University, where he was designated a distinguished professor and holder of the Kmart Chair in Marketing.

Dr. Klippel was the founding dean of the College of Management at the University of Wisconsin, Stout, dean of the College of Business at the University of Southern Indiana and twice appointed as dean of the School of Business and Economics at Michigan Technological University, where Dr. Klippel retired in 2016 as Dean Emeritus.

In addition to his academic background, Dr. Klippel’s experience included corporate marketing staff assignments with Ford Motor Company and Cummins Engine Company, as well as president of Market Research of Florida and vice president of consumer research at Management Horizons Inc., formerly a division of Pricewaterhouse/Coopers. Dr. Klippel also served as an independent consultant to numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Drexel Heritage Furniture, Westinghouse, Caterpillar and Caterpillar-Australia. Dr. Klippel conducted extensive research and scholarship in the field of marketing. Further, he served as a member of the editorial review board of the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Management.

Dr. Klippel is survived by his wife of 66 years, Alverda (Phillips); son, David; daughter Lesley Morter (Daniel); grandchildren Cory Klippel (Katherine Rizzo), Andrea Danilowicz (Patrick), and Allen Morter, and five great-grandchildren.

Services will be private.