Michael J. Driver

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Michael Driver Obituary

Driver, Michael J.
Michael J. Driver, Professor of Management and Organization at USC, passed away September 19, 2004 from malignant melanoma, diagnosed only this past summer. Dr. Driver was born on May 4, 1936 in Salem, Massachusetts. Most of his youth, however, was spent in Buffalo, New York. He received his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1958 from Fordham University, and his graduate studies were done at Princeton University, where he received his doctorate in social-industrial psychology in 1962. Prior to teaching, Dr. Driver was an NIMH post-doctoral fellow at Educational Testing Service and Director of Test Development for the U.S. Army Adjutant General School. He then taught psychology and administrative science at Purdue University from 1965-1967 and joined the faculty of what is now the USC Marshall School of Business in 1967. In 1983, to further the applications of his test development work and research, he co-founded the management consulting firm, Decision Dynamics. Dr. Driver's major research interests addressed individual decision-making styles and career development. In addition to developing several widely used psychological assessment inventories, his publications included the books "Human Information Processing" and "The Dynamic Decision Maker". He is survived by his wife, Dianne, and three children, Maia, Steven and Jennifer. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. In lieu of flowers, his family suggests that contributions in his name be made to the American Cancer Society-(800)227-2345. Services will be held Saturday, October 2, 2004 at 2:30 P.M. at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills in the Old North Church. Visitation will be on Friday, October 1, 2004, 4-9 P.M.

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Published by Los Angeles Times on Sep. 30, 2004.

Memories and Condolences
for Michael Driver

6 Entries

Ken Brousseau

September 24, 2021

It has been 17 years since Mike passed. Yet, his professional contributions continue to benefit others around the world. For me, Mike was a great colleague and a dear friend. I miss him still.

Katarina Kling

October 8, 2004

I was Mike's business colleague in Decision Dynamics Europe for more than 10 years. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to get insight into and share his vision of better understanding human behaviour so to create a better life for people. I am looking forward to many years of carrying on and extending his legacy. I will miss you Mike. And I will miss sharing the feeling of satisfaction when your insight is changing not only a few, but many, many peoples'lives.

Stephen LaBonge

October 6, 2004

I was a student of Professor Driver in early 2003 @ USC's Marhall School of Business. He opened up a new understanding of working relationships for me and was very instrumental in my decision to pursue a new career path. He will be missed very much and I was very saddened to hear of his passing. My heart and prayers goes out to his family.

Rikard Larsson

October 6, 2004

I first met Professor Mike Driver almost 20 years ago as a doctoral student at USC. Already the first lecture I had with him became the most important lecture in my life and it has substantially impacted most of the things I've been doing these last two decades. Mike's brilliant thinking about how different individuals fit different work and organizational situations has never stopped to amaze me. I truly miss our discussions and visits on either side of the Atlantic. Mike, you will always be present in my and many others minds as the great person we have fortunate to get to know.

Rikard Larsson,

Professor, Lund University, Sweden

and Decision Dynamics AB.

Patrick Sweet

October 6, 2004

Mike Driver is an inspiration to me and many others. His humanitarian focus and drive to understand people was driven by a sense of empathy and appreciation of value in human diversity shared by few. I will miss him.

Kenneth Brousseau

October 5, 2004

I was Mike Driver’s colleague, business partner, and friend for 29 years. Mike was easily the most brilliant man I’ve ever met. He was enormously creative. These qualities became very apparent in short order to anyone who met him. Mike also was a great humanist.

As brilliant and creative people often do, Mike did things in his own very unique way. People who didn’t know him well probably found it difficult to read Mike and to understand clearly what it was that he ultimately was attempting to do. But, those of us who knew him well – especially those of us at Decision Dynamics LLC here and at Decision Dynamics Europe – understood what Mike wanted to do and we shared, and continue to share, in that desire. Simply put, Mike wanted to change the world. He understood that at this point in human history, understanding of human behavior is clouded by enormous prejudices and misconceptions. Mike’s key contributions were to create several very original, insightful and enlightening models of human behavior. These models illuminate human differences in a value-free way. The models show how people differ in the way they think and in what they value and those models also show how these differences add to the richness of the human experience. In short, Mike turned a powerful spotlight on the mystery of humanity that is tremendously enlightening and also extraordinarily exciting. Many people have benefited personally from having basked in that light. I am one and there are numerous others. That number is increasing now around the globe, largely because of Mike’s creativity and humanity. He has left a powerful legacy. We, Mike’s friends and partners, are carrying on and extending this work that Mike began. We believe that time will show that Michael Driver did indeed realize his intention to change the world, very much for the better. Goodbye, thank you, and rest in peace, now, Mike.

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