Ikujiro “Jiro” Nonaka, MBA 68, PhD 72

Ikujiro “Jiro” Nonaka, 89, a pioneering organizational theorist honored for his lifetime of academic achievement by many, including Berkeley Haas, died at home in Tokyo on January 25.

Born in Japan, Nonaka came to Haas in 1965 to study marketing and rose to become one of the world’s top scholars in the field of knowledge management, which is developing and using the intellectual capital of workers to create and expand business knowledge. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at Hitotsubashi University.

Nonaka was recognized for his life’s work in both the East and the West. The Wall Street Journal named him among the 20 Most Influential Business Thinkers. He was among the first 10 management leaders inducted into the prestigious Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. In Japan, he earned a Purple Medal of Honor for his academic contributions, and he was the first business professor to deliver an Imperial New Year’s Lecture at the invitation of the Emperor of Japan. Haas celebrated Nonaka with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Read his full obit.