DUNLOP, John (Thomas) 1914-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 5, 1914, in Placerville, CA; died of heart and kidney ailments, October 2, 2003, in Boston, MA. Educator, university and government administrator, and author. Dunlop was a Harvard University professor of economics who was an expert on labor relations and served in several important government posts, including as Labor Secretary under President Gerald Ford. Born to missionary parents, he spent much of his childhood growing up in the Philippines before returning to the United States to attend the University of California at Berkeley. He received a B.A. there in 1935 and a Ph.D. in 1939, but Dunlop also studied under eminent economist John Maynard Keynes for a time at Cambridge University. His teaching career began at Stanford University, where he was an instructor for a year before joining the Harvard faculty in 1938. He would spend the rest of his academic years at Harvard, and was Lamont University professor from 1970 until his 1985 retirement; he was also chair of the economics department in the early 1960s and dean of the faculty of arts and sciences from 1970 to 1973. After retiring from teaching in 1985, Dunlop maintained his ties with the university as a negotiator between the university and its employees. Dunlop's teaching and university administrative duties were supplemented by many government-related posts. During World War II, he served on the War Labor Board, and after the war he was on the National Labor Relations Board and the Atomic Energy Labor Relations Panel. During the 1960s, he was chair of the Construction Industry Joint Conference, and from 1973 to 1974 he chaired the President's National Commission on Productivity. Dunlop was named Secretary of Labor in 1975 by President Ford, but he resigned the next year when the president vetoed a bill Dunlop supported that would have given broader picketing rights to striking construction workers. But Dunlop remained actively involved with government-labor negotiations throughout his life, including as chair of the Pay Advisory Committee from 1979 to 1980, the White House Commission on Future of Worker/Management Committee for Municipal Police and Firefighters from 1977 to 2003, the Commission on Migratory Farm Labor from 1984 to 2003, and the Massachusetts Blue Ribbon Commission on Older Workers from 1997 to 2000. Admired by both union workers and managers, Dunlop managed to craft deals that were satisfying to all sides, including disputes in such industries as agriculture, textiles, railroads, and local government. Among his many books concerning labor and economics that he wrote or cowrote are Industrial Relations Systems (1958; revised edition, 1993), Labor and the American Community (1970), Dispute Resolution: Negotiation and Consensus Building (1984), Mediation and Arbitration of Employment Disputes (1997), and A Stitch in Time (1999).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Boston Herald, October 5, 2003, p. 71.

Chicago Tribune, October 4, 2003, section 1, p. 13.

Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2003, p. B9.

New York Times, October 4, 2003, p. A11.

Washington Post, October 4, 2003, p. B6.