I am very sad to report the death of one of our longest serving Editorial Advisory Board members, Professor Ron Burke.
We are dedicating this issue in memory of him. Ron contributed generously to the journal in many ways. He helped to steer the development of the journal over many years. He also provided many reviews, and the authors of these have undoubtedly benefited from his constructive feedback and words of wisdom, helping them to advance their thoughts and ideas.
He provided some ground breaking and fine research that is internationally renowned. Some of these articles have been published in the journal and we list them here. They show the breadth and wealth of his knowledge and scholarship over many decades. It is a pleasure to publish, in this issue, one of his last articles.
I never had the pleasure to meet him face to face which is regrettable, but he will be sorely missed by the academic community.
Dr Adelina Broadbridge University of Stirling, UK.
Professor Sir Cary Cooper, a lifelong colleague, has written the following obituary.
Professor Ronald J. Burke
Ron was born on October 22, 1937 and died peacefully on the March 19, 2019. He was born in Winnipeg, Canada, did his undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba and then on to the University of Michigan for his MA and PhD. He taught organizational behaviour at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto for over 40 years and was one of the most prolific academics of his generation. He wrote numerous scholarly articles, edited an enormous number of books on a range of topics from health and well-being to women at work to work-life balance to aging to workplace corruption to violence and abuse at work and the list goes on. He was infectious with new ideas, and probably attending more international conferences than any other social scientist! If Ron was not at an AoM or APA or BAM or any other social science conference, people would say ‘Is Ron okay, is he ill?’ I met him over 30 years ago at an AoM conference in Disneyland in Anaheim when he said “we need to work together Cary, how about writing or editing a book, and of course I said yes”– his enthusiasm was inspiring. When I got back from LA, on my desk was an outline of a book and off we went! We have probably published in excess of a dozen or more books and many chapters together. He never let me rest, once one book was complete he was on to another, and another, ideas never stopped coming! My various PAs loved his energy, but between the two of us we did tend to stress them out!
Ron loved life, and when we were at conferences, he loved to find unique and earthy restaurants and novel sight-seeing places, managing to convince a crowd of conference delegates to follow him “hither and there” on his journey of exploration in the various cities where these conferences were held throughout the world. Ron had a great sense of humour, was liked by those who knew him and encouraged young academics in their research and writing adventures. It is true to say he was driven, and one day at one of the many conferences we met at, I asked him what the source of his drive was, he replied in typical psychologist mode: “trying to prove to myself that I am as good as other people think I am”.
I won’t forget you Ron, my dear friend, and the many shared experiences over 30 years of colleagueship and friendship – I will share a quiet moment at every conference I go to in the future, in memory of you and the wonderful times we had together – and will never forget your energy and enthusiasm for life. As Abraham Lincoln once wrote: “It’s not the years in your life that matter, but the life in your years” – and there has been plenty of them in yours!
Professor Sir Cary Cooper, CBE, 50th Anniversary Professor at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester; and Ron’s Co-Author and friend.
