Richard Michael Cyert (July 22, 1921 – October 7, 1998) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may w ...

and

organizational theorist Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organiz ...

, who served as the sixth

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. He is known for his seminal 1959 work "''A behavioral theory of the firm''," co-authored with

James G. March James Gardner March (January 15, 1928 – September 27, 2018) was an American political scientist, sociologist, and economist. A professor at Stanford University in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Graduate School of Edu ...

Early life

He was born in

Winona, Minnesota Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, Minnesota, Winona County, in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf (Winona, Minnesota ...

and grew up in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

. He received a B.S. from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1943, then joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

. On the G.I. Bill he earned his Ph.D. in economics from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. At Columbia, however, he became a specialist in statistics as well. He taught briefly at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, then took a position in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1948 to teach statistics in accounting and auditing.

Carnegie Mellon years

Cyert taught economics, statistics, and industrial administration for the next 14 years, then was named dean of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA). He was a big proponent of inter-disciplinary research and assigned offices to faculty from different departments to the same suite when the new building for GSIA was completed. This proximity, along with the system that rewarded inter-disciplinary research, produced some outstanding and groundbreaking research- further highlighting CMU as an institution for cross-discipline research. In 1972 he became the university's sixth president. During his tenure as president, he led Carnegie Mellon through unparalleled growth, transforming it from an Eastern technical school to a premiere American university and focused the university on computer studies. He handled inherited deficits by first cutting costs, which gained him some enemies, and later launched the largest expansion in the school's 98-year history. The number of departments and programs ranked in the Top 10 nationally by deans' surveys rose from three—computer science, drama, and industrial administration—to twelve. His administration initiated new program areas in urban and public policy, engineering, architecture, art, cognitive psychology, social history, philosophy, and applied math. Throughout his administrative career he remained active in his academic fields. He was the author or co-author of 12 books and wrote more than 100 articles for professional journals and books. In 1973 he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

.View/Search Fellows of the ASA
accessed 2016-08-20. After retiring from CMU, Cyert served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences at

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States, occupying in North Carolina and hosting more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. The facility is named for its location relative to the three surrounding cities ...

. He served for four years, until illness forced him to step down. He died following a long battle with cancer. For 52 years he was married to Margaret Shadick Cyert; they had three daughters. Cyert Hall, Carnegie Mellon's computing administration building, is named after Richard Cyert.

Publications

* ''Models in a Behavioral Theory of the Firm'', with Edward Feigenbaum, and

James March James Gardner March (January 15, 1928 – September 27, 2018) was an American political scientist, sociologist, and economist. A professor at Stanford University in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Graduate School of Educ ...

, ''Behavioral Science'', April, 1959, pp. 81–95 * ''Behavioral Theory of the Firm'' with

. Oxford: Blackwell, 1963. The book was voted the twelfth most influential management book of the 20th century in a poll of the Fellows of the

Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professo ...

. * ''Multi-Period Decision Models with Alternating Choice as a Solution to the Duopoly Problem'', with M. H. DeGroot, Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1970, pp410–429 * ''Management Decision Making'' (1971) with Lawrence A. Welsch * ''The American Economy, 1960–2000'' (1983) * ''Technology and Employment'' (1987) * * ''Computational Organization Theory'' (1994) with Kathleen M. Carley and Michael J. Prietula ;About Richard Cyert *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyert, Richard 1921 births 1998 deaths Presidents of Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University faculty American business theorists Public administration scholars American sociologists Columbia University alumni University of Minnesota alumni Fellows of the American Statistical Association 20th-century American writers 20th-century American economists Fellows of the Econometric Society South High School (Minnesota) alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II