GRUBER, William H. Age 88, of Woburn, passed away peacefully, on October 31, 2023. Beloved husband of Ann Marie (McLaughlin) Gruber. Born to Benjamin and Ruth Gruber on March 6, 1935, Bill attended Brookline, Massachusetts schools before graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1956 and earning a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965. Dr. Gruber, an organizational theorist, was a professor at MIT, Boston College and Northeastern University, and is known for his work in the application of information technology to business. He founded the consulting firm, Research & Planning Inc. (R&P), now part of Appnet (NASDAQ APPT). Dr. Gruber co-authored a book with William Synott, in 1981, that first introduced the concept of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Dr Gruber became a CIO himself at the Harvard Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions. Bill was predeceased by his parents; and sister, Ronda Gruber. Bill leaves behind two families that he cherished deeply, his beloved wife of 30 years, Ann Marie (McLaughlin) Gruber; his children, Amanda Gruber of Cambridge, Robert Gruber and wife, Kathleen Fisher of Washington D.C., and Thomas Gruber of Cambridge; his stepchildren, Karen Thorp-Dussourd and husband, Ed Dussourd of Chelmsford, Joe Thorp and wife, Sheryl Thorp of Concord, MA, Lynn Denis and husband, Kevin Denis of Crofton, MD; his grandchild, Darcy Angle; and step-grandchildren, Conlan and Kaleigh Dussourd, Aidan and Ethan Thorp, and Emily, Robbie and Ana Denis, whom all affectionately called him Grampy. In keeping with Bill's wishes, private services will be held on Nov 13. Donations in Bill's memory may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Association, https://engage.my,ssa.org/donate Arrangements by the McLaughlin – Dello Russo Family Funeral Home of WOBURN. To leave an online message of condolence please visit www.dellorusso.net Dello Russo Family Funeral Home

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Published by Boston Globe from Nov. 3 to Nov. 5, 2023.

Memories and Condolences
for William Gruber

3 Entries

John S. Niles, Seattle

November 10, 2023

I am very sad that Dr. William H. Gruber´s life has ended. He provided me with wonderful intellectual and emotional support for all the decades that I knew him.
Bill Gruber was a very important person to me since early in my adult life. He first appeared as my favorite university teacher when I was a 20-year-old junior at MIT in 1967. Professor Gruber taught a full classroom of us undergraduates about "Industrial Management for Scientists and Engineers." Headed to business school following graduation, I then asked him in my senior year for the favor of becoming my one-on-one personal instructor (for academic credit) in the final months before MIT graduation, and he agreed to supervise my first serious academic research, published soon thereafter. Together we co-authored a half dozen peer-reviewed journal articles, all visible on the Internet in Research Gate. From that beginning, Bill and I became life-long friends and colleagues.
At his urging, we pulled our early writing - mostly his -- on the evolutionary, technology-facilitated development of the corporate management profession into a 1976 McGraw-Hill book titled The New Management: Line Executive and Staff Professional in the Future Firm. As the junior co-author, I worked occasionally on this book while residing periodically in the early 70s with his family in their West Newton home. In these early years of our collaboration, I came to know his wonderful three children Amanda, Bob, and Tom. Bill and they attended my graduation from the Newport Rhode Island Naval Officers School.
Our lives and careers went in separate directions after I left military service. Bill went on to write many important books and reports, all visible and often cited in Google Scholar. I eventually followed his path into independent technology and public policy consulting, which took me permanently to the U.S. west coast in the early 80s, my home ever since. But Bill and I continued to collaborate from a distance in the telecom-enabled environment of our era, focusing on Bill´s life-long professional interest in technology and policy for managing health care. This is a topic that he covered presciently in a research-based chapter on tele-health that he contributed to my 1994 report for the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory titled "Beyond Telecommuting."
I am honored to have been one of Bill Gruber´s many professional collaborators and have sought to adopt his intellectual and cooperative process of working with others during my own career.
All through the later decades of our parallel lives we stayed in touch, and his influence on my thinking and work has been profound. He was such a kind and supportive colleague, acting very much as a virtual but always available Chief Information Officer for my business and my life.
I send my condolences and best wishes to Ann Marie, Lucretia, Bill´s children and extended family, and to the worldwide legion of Bill´s friends, colleagues, and admirers.

-- John S. Niles, Seattle, November 10, 2023