Eugene Emerson Jennings

The Jennings family mourns the passing of their beloved father, Eugene E. Jennings, a distinguished Michigan State University Professor Emeritus, Michigan, who died on July 17 at his home in Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Jennings was born on April 4, 1926 in Palmyra, Illinois. He was the fourth child of Henry H. Jennings and Sara May Frey and was raised by them in the Mennonite tradition. After graduating high school in 1944, Dr. Jennings joined the Marines to serve our country in WWII. He was seriously injured during advanced training for the Paramarines, after which he was honorably discharged for medical reasons.

In high school, Dr. Jennings met Marilynne Jean Peterson. They became “sweethearts” and married on June 1, 1947. In partnership with Marilynne, Dr. Jennings completed a Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate in psychology in five years. He held a professorship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before joining Michigan State College in 1954 to help develop the business school. In his 37 year tenure at MSU, Dr. Jennings wrote several bestselling books including, An Anatomy of Leadership (1960), The Executive: Autocrat, Bureaucrat, Democrat (1962), Executive in Crisis (1965), The Mobile Manager (1967), Executive Success (1967), and Routes to the Executive Suite (1971). He became a pioneer and internationally renowned expert in the field of executive mobility and served as a confidential advisor to Fortune 500 chief executives. Notwithstanding his achievements as an author and consultant, Dr. Jennings was foremost a teacher, committed to his students’ education. He taught some of the most popular, impactful classes that helped prepare his students for the “real world” challenges of executive life. He retired from MSU as a Professor Emeritus in 1991. His significant influence lives on in the thousands of students he taught and executives he counseled.

Dr. Jennings’s union with Marilynne was the defining commitment of his life. The fruit of their marriage, their four sons—Eugene, Mark, Matthew and Peter, each an MSU alumnus, their daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren, was their proudest work. Their union ended when Marilynne passed on August 16, 2008. In the difficult years without his beloved helpmate to whom he faithfully cleaved for 61 years, he soldiered on courageously through significant medical challenges. With his passing, he is once again reunited with Marilynne, together forever, in the house of our Lord in heaven.

The Jennings family invites those who knew Dr. Jennings to gather for funeral services to honor the blessings of his life and work together with Marilynne.

Funeral services will be held at 10AM on Friday, August 5, 2016 at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Home, 1730 East Grand River Ave, East Lansing, MI 48823. The Jennings family requests that condolences be sent to Gorsline Runciman Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the Jennings family encourages contributions be sent in memory of Dr. Jennings to support scholarships at MSU’s Broad College of Business to: Michigan State University, 632 Bogue Street N505, East Lansing, MI 48824 (please note “In memory of Dr. Jennings (A20005).