HAROLD OAKLANDER

OAKLANDER--Harold. Harold Oaklander died September 5, 2024, at Klinkenberg, his Hudson Valley home. His family, friends, and colleagues will miss his enthusiasm, charm, energy, generosity, and quirky humor. Harold was born on August 20, 1921, in Kearny, NJ, living above his father Fred's pharmacy with mother Anna and three siblings. Fond of mechanics and bicycle racing, after high school he attended the Casey Jones School of Aeronautical Engineering. Pearl Harbor prompted him to enlist in the Navy, serving as Aviation Machinist's Mate Second Class at LaGuardia Airport. His war experiences shaped him into an outgoing, adventurous person with global friendships. Post-war, he worked for American Export Airlines at Westover Field, MA. In 1947 he moved to California in a one-wheeled trailer sleeping outdoors, to join Aero-Jet General, the leading rocket manufacturer, as a test mechanic. He cheated death when an engine ignited in the test chamber. He also studied part-time at Pasadena Junior College. In 1949 he returned East to work at Robinson Airlines at East Hill Airport in Ithaca, NY, co- owned by Cornell University. In February 1950 he talked his way into provisional admission to Cornell's ILR School and the next semester advanced to fully enrolled status, supported by the GI Bill. He studied liberal arts and labor relations, working as a campus AV technician and broadcast reporter. Graduating in 1952 in the ILR School's 4th class, he joined General Electric in Human Resources, leaving in 1957 to pursue a Masters' degree in industrial administration at Yale University. Professors E. Wight Bakke and Chris Argyris inspired his exploration of constructive management and unemployment. In August 1958 Harold met Dr. Isabelle Rapin, a Columbia Presbyterian neurology resident, at a Bard College summer course. He stole her heart by repairing her stalled Morris Minor as they returned to New York City. They married on April 4, 1959, and he graduated from Yale in May. Isabelle joined the recently formed Albert Einstein College of Medicine while Harold pursued a PhD in Human Resource Management at Columbia University's Business School. The distinguished economist Eli Ginzburg was a seminal influence. Concurrently, Harold taught courses at Hofstra University. Writing his dissertation at home transformed him into caregiver for his four children, a reversal of the norm. In 1968, he joined the faculty at Pace University's Lubin School of Business and in 1969 founded the Executive MBA Program, the 2nd in the city and the 3rd in the US. He served briefly as Lubin's Associate Dean but preferred teaching. Harold steadfastly supported Isabelle's renowned career as she supported his endeavors. Shared interests included travel, antiquing, classical music, and reading. They restored Klinkenberg, a ca.1665 Dutch house on the west bank of the Hudson River. For almost 60 years Harold worked with architects, carpenters, and masons, liberating surplus Cow Bay sand and cobblestones from construction sites. Isabelle and Harold hosted guests from different countries and professions, including Isabelle's colleague Dr. Oliver Sacks, who became a lifelong family friend and lived in Klinkenberg's barn one summer. The 1974-76 recession turned Harold's focus to the harms of unemployment, and he wrote articles, book chapters, and did case studies, sharing his views in a WQXR broadcast. A firm believer in cross- cultural analysis, Harold studied and lectured internationally. He admired Japan's lifetime employment and befriended Japanese academics and executives. He organized and directed the International Labor Organization's Study Group on Unemployment, engaging scholars in annual symposia. In his eighties, Harold founded a program for US labor departments to host ILR School interns at One- Stop Job Centers, helping the unemployed find jobs. At age 92, he founded and endowed a Cornell Law School fellowship, working with Dean Stewart J. Schwab. This brought students into regional offices of legal aid nonprofits helping the indigent and unemployed. In At age 97, he gave his final lecture in the ILR School course he had founded, likely the first college course in the US about the history of unemployment. After his death, his family established the Harold Oaklander Prize in the ILR School. He is survived by sister Doris, his children Anne Louise, Christine, Stephen, and Peter, spouses Max Klein, Regena, Yeon-Sook, grandchildren Daniel, Madeleine, Connor, Evan; and great-grandson Jacob. Brothers Bernard and Gabriel predeceased him, and his beloved wife Isabelle died in 2017. Memorial gifts can be sent to the Harold Oaklander Public Interest Fund, Cornell Law School, Box 37334, Boone, IA, 50037-0334.