January 2007
Learning about the sudden and most untimely death of Prof. Allan Pred, my doctoral advisor, 1978-1983, is both an unexpected event and very shocking and unbelievable news to every doctoral student Allan had, to our Department, our discipline and Letters and Sciences fields in the US and the World.
A giant of unprecedented proportions is gone. His legacy is eternal.
I am stunned, can’t believe, the cause of death: lung cancer. Allan never smoked, biked up hill every day six month of every year, was slimmer than most of us, enjoyed lunch more than most of us and was engaged intensely in research and writing a rather solitary activity which caused him much pleasure and was not a stressful activity since he was a BEST writer, most prolific, published in quality and quantity unmatched proportions compared to most other faculty at UC, Berkeley, just to say that, he did not have pressure from the administration, joined UC in 1962 at 26 years old and was tenured before he was 30 years old!! No publisher ever rejected his books or requested fundamental changes to his writings.
No magic — we are all mortals — how can any one predict the risk for dying based on life style, Allan — the healthiest of all — died at the age of 70 (1936-2007) from lung cancer as a non-smoker — for Allan no modification in activities of daily living was recommended!!
Who was Allan for me since 9/1978 and before: A mentor, a teacher, a friend, a well-wisher, a source of encouragement, a critique, a standard setter and a source of plus thirty years of inspiration which started with reading his “Location and Behavior” (1967), while I was a Masters student in Urban Planning at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, 1973 – 1976.
During these three years, I was a student of Prof. Barry Kibel, who got his PhD in the City Planning Department at UC, Berkeley under Prof. Michael Tietz in Planning and Allan Pred in Georgraphy. Prof. Kibel encouraged me to apply to UC, Berkeley and explore working with Allan Pred. Kibel’s recommendation letter was a determinant factor in my initial contact with Allan Pred in 1978.
I was very fondly of Allan, wrote poetry for him as I corrected the draft of my doctoral thesis because of the intense inspiration he provided and the challenging comments he made to my writings. I knew that nothing but very exceptional will be approved, needless to say signed off. Allan’s breath of interests included Organizational Behavior Economics. This special reality, enabled me to work on a topic which was very interdisciplinary in nature and to combine Location Theory with this area in Economics, which took off greatly later on, in the late 80s and 90s, chiefly by the work of Prof. Paul Krugman, an entire decade after my thesis was completed.
Allan’s guidance all along my graduate studies at Berkeley, yielded a body of research which facilitated my 20 years of a career in the “For-Profit” sector in key industries such as Top tier management consulting (SRI, Int’l), Computer hardware and software (Amdahl Corp), Federal Funded Research and Development Corp (MITRE) and Publishing (McGraw-Hill). Allan’s most impact was on my positions in the Top Tier Management Consulting Industry: Stanford Research Institute, SRI, Int’l in Menlo Park, and Monitor Group in Cambridge, MA to where I moved in 1990. Allan has guided me to inquire opportunities at Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, MA and knew all about the management consulting field.
At SRI, my dissertation under Allan Pred was viewed as a ready made body of theory that I can apply to their body on clients in mature industries requiring new conceptualization for revitalization of otherwise stagnant sectors of the economy. It was in the mid 80’s when Chemical and Automotive industries needed a new strategy. My research thesis at Berkeley under Allan Pred was ready to provide consulting for SRI clients such as General Motors, DuPont, Alcan and Phone-Poulenc, as I did till late 1988 when I joined Amdahl Corporation in Sunnyvale, CA.
Without him, I would not have had the confidence to get my first job in the US at Stanford Research Institute in 1984 and held there the Director title at age 35. I knew, he gave me his blessing and should I need to build another theoretical model — Allan, will accept my phone call from Menlo Park and will continue to instruct me. Without him, I might not have gotten the three teaching assistantships which covered my tuition as a non-California resident for the first three years at UC, Berkeley. Without him, my admission at University of Chicago (his own alma mater) might not have been transferred or transferable to UC, Berkeley.
Allan, gave me my first chance in the US, and following graduation from Berkeley, I took off to conduct applied research in corporate America. The twenty years I worked in this field, yielded over sixty technical reports and over 200 invited lectures. Allan knew the details and told me that my career demonstrates the viability of our discipline outside of academe. I had the opportunity to share with him these facts and discuss their impact on corporate decision making.
I met him last in 2000 in San Francisco in the lobby of SF Museum Of Modern Art and walked together to an exhibit in Architecture by the most gifted woman architect in the 20th century — Ms. Zaha Haddid. Having the chance to look at her exhibit in his company and experiencing many moments when both of us were at owe and amazed by her ingenuity — made this SF visit the most special afternoon in my entire life. We looked at each other with complete admiration for her accomplishments in computer graphics and concept modeling. He told me, “I planned to go to her exhibit, I am glad, because of you and with you I am here in San Francisco today.” We continued to another exhibit on the upper floor on the “WIRED” magazine since its inception. Allan told me that he likes to browse in it once in a while, though does not do it often enough. Having a chance to look together, at the first five issues, issued in the early 80s, caused him great joy.
We had an hour of talking over his favorite Cappuccino with all the trimmings in the Museum Cafeteria. He was smiling constantly, asking questions and just continued the Professor-graduate student relations as if twenty years have not gone by. We parted with his bear hug and few e-mails since. In May 2002 when I arrived to Monterey, CA, I e-mailed him that he is invited to visit. He said, “another time, since I am leaving to Sweden in one week, after I’ll return to Berkeley by mid of August 2002.”
I met Allan on the memorial for Prof. Vance, the Centennial to the Department and on a talk I gave at the Haas School of Business in 2001 when he came to listen to my talk. In 2002/2003, while living in Monterey on an assignment for McGraw-Hill, I visited the Campus and gave a talk at Berkeley’s Center for Globalization and Information Technology, where I meet Dick Walker, he was a discussant, but missed Allan who was on Sabbatical.
I planned to share with Allan my new research on Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), in particular a forthcoming paper in a Journal called “Cardiovascular Drugs.” I waited to have it published to let Allan know — to his potential amazement — now it is too late t share.
Allan, was a person, once you knew him — you, yourself knew, you are not going to ever forget. For myself, and other doctoral students of him — Allan is vivid in memory, is eternal like the memory of a much loved parent.
Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD ’83
Leave a Reply