Robert Dean "Bob" Herman

1946 - 2022

Robert Dean "Bob" Herman
January 6, 1946 - February 23, 2022
Kansas City, Missouri - Cherished by one, loved by many, respected by all who knew him.
Born in Harper, KS to Floyd Everett and Lois Virginia (Drake) Herman, Bob was raised in Wichita by loving parents who instilled in him a level-headed optimism, a clear code of moral conduct, and a self-deprecating sense of humor.
Bob was a scholar-athlete at Wichita South and at Kansas State University, playing basketball on the KSU freshman team. He joined Pi Kappa Alpha and was admitted to three honor societies while a student in Manhattan. He graduated with a degree in Economics in 1968. He then attended Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations School where he made many life-long friends, met his wife, Charlotte, and completed his masters and doctoral degrees.
Bob joined the Public Administration faculty of the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) in 1972. There he began his exemplary and highly influential 37-year career as a scholar and educator studying and teaching public service leadership and management, especially the leadership, governance, and management of nonprofit organizations. Bob Herman is recognized as one of the founders of the field of nonprofit studies and as a pioneer in the study of nonprofit organization governance and effectiveness. His leadership helped spark the creation of the nonprofit management program at UMKC, one of the first such programs in the US and, in 1991, the creation of the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership. Author and editor of more than 85 articles, chapters, and books, including the pathbreaking Jossey-Bass Handbook on Nonprofit Leadership and Management (now in its fourth edition), Bob's work is appreciated for being pragmatic, insightful, and useful to both researchers and practitioners. Bob's work has been cited by hundreds of scholars from across the globe in more than five thousand publications; it continues to be cited by hundreds more each year.
Modest almost to a fault, Bob nonetheless was highly celebrated for his contributions to the field, including the N.T. Veatch Award for Distinguished Research, the Elmer Pierson Outstanding Teaching Award, the Drucker Prize for Best Scholarly Article and, most recently and notably, the Distinguished Achievement and Leadership in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research award from the international Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) in 2010.
As talented and gifted as he was as a professor and scholar, Bob Herman blessed all who knew him with his insight, quick wit, encouragement, and support. Especially important to him from the beginning of his career was the esteem and high regard of his students. Dozens of young and emerging scholars, nonprofit executives and board members - both here and abroad - credit Bob as a mentor and guide through his participation in an extensive variety of community workshops, leadership programs, and the Midwest Center. Bob's influence reaches well beyond the Heartland and even the U.S., especially through his teaching at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.
Bob was by nature inquisitive. He read widely - from mysteries to the history/philosophy of science - and all stripes of political discourse. He was gracious to all but those who would undermine civil society and the institutions that support it. He loved travel, both here and abroad, especially to places of great natural beauty. His taste in music was catholic, ranging from jazz to classical concerts and recordings. He was a volunteer and board member of Kansas City's Summerfest. He was a friend to animals in need from his first days in Kansas City and was actively involved in rescue transports.
Bob is survived by his wife, Charlotte, his brother (Duane) and sister-in law (Susan), his brother-in-law (Byron Davis) and his wife (Sherry), four nephews and nieces, ten great-nieces and great-nephews, an aunt-in-law and uncle-in-law, and many cousins and cousins by marriage.
He was the best friend a wife could ever have — a constant, loving rock of support, encouragement, equanimity, and understanding for more than 50 years.
Despite the increasingly debilitating effects of mastocytosis, the rare autoimmune disease that ravaged his body over 25 years, he never complained and remained hopeful to the end that some resumption of health might be possible.
All thanks from his wife go to the staff of Kansas City Hospice House and the friends and family whose kindness and concern have made the unendurable, endurable.
A Celebration of Life service will be conducted in his honor at some future date. Condolences and remembrances may be left at the Cremation Society of Kansas and Missouri (https://www.kccremation.com/obituaries.aspx).
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to Earthjustice - formerly the Sierra Club's Legal Defense Fund (https://earthjustice.org) - and/or Doberman Rescue of Nebraska (https://doberescue-ne.org or PO Box 390684 Omaha, NE 68139-0684).