It was early April 2016 – a sunny day in Gloucester, MA. We had just wrapped up a good presentation to our Operations Action Lab host company, Gorton’s Seafood, for which Don had decided to join me and my project teammates. As we got ready to leave, Don turned to us and, with his heartwarming smile, said, “there’s a very good seafood restaurant next door – let’s go.” Don’s lunch treat at Seaport Grille is one of my fondest memories of him. As we waited for our delicious local fish and chips orders, Don pulled out a napkin and wrote down some operations management principles and equations to guide the next steps of our project. But, of course, in true Don style, he quickly made time to ask us how things were going outside of class. I remember thinking to myself how lucky I was – there I was sitting with, and learning from, one of the world’s best operations researchers, who also happened to be the father of the LGO program – all while enjoying some great New England haddock!
Don took genuine interest in people on a personal level – and that was one of his strongest leadership qualities. He always took the time to know our names and stories – and then somehow remembered all of them. I’ll never forget the number of times he stopped me after Ops-Lab class or just while passing by in E62 to ask how I was doing away from home, what Qatar is like, and what I wanted to do following graduation. I will always miss Don, but I feel so grateful to have met him during my time at LGO and learned from him. While LGO will not be the same without him, I am certain that the values he carried will continue to live through the many students he taught and mentored.