Rabi Sankar Bhagat, a noted scholar of international management, retired University of Memphis professor of business, and past president of the India Association of Memphis, passed away peacefully in the presence of his family at his Germantown, Tennessee home on February 2, 2022. He was 71 years old. In his over 40-year career, Dr. Bhagat authored six books and countless articles on cross-cultural management, taught thousands of students, and built friendships with colleagues around the world.
Dr. Bhagat was born in Midnapur, West Bengal, India to Bijoy and Annapurna Bhagat on March 18, 1950. He earned an undergraduate degree in physics with honors from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur in 1969 before turning his scholarly focus to industrial psychology. Dr. Bhagat earned a master’s degree from the Xavier Labor Relations Institute in Jamshedpur in 1972, before coming to the United States to earn a master’s degree in Labor and Industrial Relations and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign in 1977.
Dr. Bhagat started his career as a scholar of cross-cultural psychology and organizational management in 1976 when he became a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. He married his wife, Ebha, the following year, and they welcomed two daughters, Monika and Priyanka. In 1990, the family moved to Tennessee, where Dr. Bhagat continued his research and teaching as a professor of international management and organizational behavior at the University of Memphis. He held the Suzanne Downs Palmer Professorship for Research from 2003–2004.
Dr. Bhagat’s career took him, often along with his family, to conferences and visiting professorships around the globe. He held visiting professorships in Louisiana, Hawaii, Illinois, Hong Kong, South Korea, Brazil, Poland, China, and India. Wherever Dr. Bhagat went, he delighted in engaging conversation with people from all walks of life and sharing the local cuisine with those he met.
Dr. Bhagat’s collaborations with students and colleagues worldwide produced lifelong friendships and robust scholarship. He won numerous awards and was elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Management, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the International Academy for Intercultural Research, and the International Association of Applied Psychology.
Dr. Bhagat was predeceased by his parents and elder sister Jayati Bhagat Jayaswal. He is survived by his devoted wife Ebha, his daughters Priyanka Bhagat and Monika Bhagat-Kennedy, son-in-law Timothy Kennedy, a granddaughter Vidya Kennedy, all of Memphis, Tennessee, his siblings Bharati Jaiswal, Amita Jaiswal, Neelakshi Jayaswal, Aditya Bhagat, Gauri Bhagat, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Dr. Annette McDevitt and her husband Dr. Ian McDevitt provided invaluable compassion and support to Dr. Bhagat and his family throughout his period of illness.
Services will take place at Family Funeral Care (4925 Summer Avenue) on Monday, February 14th at 10:00 am.
