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In Memoriam: Harold F. ‘Hal’ Gortner

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 17:53:05 +0000

In Memoriam: Harold F. ‘Hal’ Gortner Andrew J Schappert Wed, 02/05/2025 - 12:53

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Harold F. “Hal” Gortner in an undated photo.

When Hal Gortner arrived at George Mason �鶹�� in 1979, the campus was little more than a cluster of buildings and an ambitious vision. The university, just seven years old, had about 10,000 students and was still defining itself. But Gortner saw potential—not just in George Mason, but in the students he would go on to mentor over the next several decades.

Gortner, a towering figure in public administration education and a founding architect of the university’s public administration program, died August 7, 2024. He was 84.

At a time when George Mason was rapidly evolving, Gortner launched the public administration program, one of the university’s first to grant graduate degrees. His work laid the foundation for what would become the Schar School of Policy and Government, now home to 90 full-time faculty and 2,000 students across undergraduate and graduate programs.

Gortner served as director of the fledgling program for four years before stepping into a larger role for eight years as chair of the new Public and International Affairs Department in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

“Hal was a good chair and generous colleague,” said �鶹�� Professor Emeritus James P. Pfiffner, who came to George Mason in 1984 when Gortner was chair of the department. “Faculty members knew we could count on him if we needed help, and we had high confidence in his fair and balanced leadership of the department. We knew we could count on him as our leader but also as a friend.”

A prolific scholar, Gortner authored several influential works, including Organization Theory: A Public and Nonprofit Perspective, a widely used text that has been translated into multiple languages. His contributions at George Mason were recognized in 2006 with the establishment of the Harold Gortner Distinguished Speaker Series in Public Administration.

A Missouri native, Gortner’s academic journey took him from Earlham College, where he earned a degree in political science in 1963, and to Indiana �鶹��, where he earned master’s degrees in public administration (1966) and political science (1969), as well as a PhD in political science (1971). Before arriving at George Mason, he was an assistant professor at San Jose State �鶹��.

Beyond his academic achievements, Gortner was known for his warmth and generosity. His students remember him as a mentor who believed in their potential.

“Hal’s positive outlook and confidence helped us become productive public servants,” said one former student. A colleague called him “the most community-spirited and devoted to the greater good.”

After retiring in 2004, Gortner and his wife, Sylvia, moved to Bluffton, South Carolina, and later to Bloomington, Indiana, where they settled in 2015. His legacy is etched not just in the institutions he helped shape but in the countless students and colleagues he inspired along the way.

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In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Harry Van Trees

Tama Moni — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 18:41:54 +0000

In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Harry Van Trees Tama Moni Wed, 01/18/2023 - 13:41

Professor Emeritus Harry Van Trees

Harry Van Trees, a distinguished and award-winning researcher, textbook author, member of the National Academy of Engineering, and George Mason �鶹�� Professor of Information Technology and Electrical and Systems Engineering passed away on December 29, 2022.

Van Trees was born in Kansas City on June 27, 1930. He went on to graduate first in his class from West Point and earned an Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after a stint in the army. He joined the MIT Electrical Engineering Department, where he studied signal processing. He made significant contributions to detection and estimation theory, optimum array processing, and Bayesian estimation of random processes. He is regarded as a founder of the detection and estimation theory body of knowledge. His impressive CV may be found here.

Later in his career, he would go on to be the founding director of Mason's Center of Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I). George Mason �鶹�� Professor Emeritus Alexander Levis noted, “His vision for such a center was inspired by his brief service as Air Force Chief Scientist and then as the first Assistant Secretary at DoD for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence. He recognized that rapidly evolving information technology would change fundamentally Command and Control and that both basic and applied research were very much needed. Indeed, thirty-five years later, Command and Control has now been recognized as a defining pillar of national security.”

Others on the Mason campus also paid tribute to his lasting legacy. “Harry Van Trees was a brilliant engineer, educator, mentor, and colleague who had a remarkable life and career in academia, government, and industry,” added Kristine Bell, Affiliate Associate Professor in the Mason Statistics Department. “His books on Detection and Estimation Theory and Array Processing have educated so many engineers and inspired so many important research findings in the last 45 years. There is no doubt that our world would look different without his contributions. I was so privileged to have worked with him. He was a wonderful man who cared deeply for his family, but also for his colleagues, and his community. I will miss him tremendously.”

According to his official obituary, his passing was unexpected but fortunately, although in the hospital, he was able to spend his last week with Diane, his beloved wife of 69 years, and his six surviving children, Stephen, Mark, Katie, Tricia, Harry, and Julia. 

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In Memorium: Former Ambassador Bill Farrand

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 03 May 2022 13:56:55 +0000

In Memorium: Former Ambassador Bill Farrand Andrew J Schappert Tue, 05/03/2022 - 09:56

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Bill Farrand

Robert William (Bill) Farrand, a former U.S. ambassador who in retirement became a longtime distinguished senior fellow in George Mason �鶹��’s School of Public Policy (now the Schar School of Policy and Government), died on April 26 in Alexandria, Virginia. The cause was Parkinson’s Disease.

Farrand was an instrumental affiliate faculty member of the Peace Operations Policy Program, preparing students and practicing professionals for careers in conflict resolution.

A career Foreign Service officer, Farrand was ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu between 1990 and 1993, then served as Deputy High Representative, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1997 to 2000.

Farrand cowrote, with former Schar School Peace Operations program director Allison Frendak-Blume, the textbook Reconstruction and Peace Building in the Balkans: The Brcko Experience (2011). The book recapped his efforts in implementing the Dayton Peace Accords in the ethically divided Balkan territory of Brcko in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I admired his nonstop energy and commitment to building peace—something he carried over to his teaching in the Peace Operations program here at Mason,” said Distinguished Visiting Professor Richard Kauzlarich, who worked with Farrand when Kauzlarich was U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We will miss him as a valued friend and colleague.”

Farrand was a member of the Cornwallis Group, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the American Foreign Service Association, and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.

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