It was early April 2016 \u2013 a sunny day in Gloucester, MA. We had just wrapped up a good presentation to our Operations Action Lab host company, Gorton\u2019s 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, \u201cthere\u2019s a very good seafood restaurant next door \u2013 let\u2019s go.\u201d Don\u2019s 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\u2019s best operations researchers, who also happened to be the father of the LGO program \u2013 all while enjoying some great New England haddock!<\/p>\n
Don took genuine interest in people on a personal level \u2013 and that was one of his strongest leadership qualities. He always took the time to know our names and stories \u2013 and then somehow remembered all of them. I\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was early April 2016 \u2013 a sunny day in Gloucester, MA. We had just wrapped up a good presentation to our Operations Action Lab host company, Gorton\u2019s 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 … <\/p>\n