Born November 19, 1909 in Austria, Drucker came to the United States in 1937. He spent time teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College and at New York University before moving West to the Claremont Graduate School in 1971. The online magazine MarketWatch describes Drucker as the man "largely credited with creating the school of thought that governs most modern corporate management styles." The Associated Press called Drucker "the father of modern corporate management" in its obituary; but he earned that honor years ago.

Key business concepts such as "management by objectives" and the identification of the "knowledge worker" are two examples of Drucker's mind. His management ideas stressed the decentralization of organizations. Mr. Drucker pioneered the idea of privatization and the corporation as a social institution. He coined the terms "knowledge workers" and "management by objectives." His seminal study of General Motors in 1945 [Concept of the Corporation] introduced the concept of decentralization as a principle of organization. This was in contrast to the practice of command and control in business...Central to his philosophy was the belief that highly skilled people are an organization's most valuable resource and that a manager's job is to prepare and free people to perform. Good management can bring economic progress and social harmony, he said, adding, "Although I believe in the free market, I have serious reservations about capitalism." (Patricia Sullivan, Washington Post Staff Writer, 11-12-2005)

There is a Hegelian dialectic: a free market without capitalism.

Mr. Drucker is survived by his wife Doris Schmitz Drucker, who recently published a memoir entitled Invent Radium or I'll Pull Your Hair. There are four children: son Vincent Drucker and daughters Audrey Drucker, Cecily Drucker and Joan Drucker Weinstein. Mr. Drucker is also survived by six grandchildren. In 2002, Drucker was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest civilian honor by U.S. President George W. Bush. It has been reported that among the American presidents he favored Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan.

"Managers have to learn to know language, to understand what words are and what they mean. Perhaps most important, they have to acquire respect for language as our most precious gift and heritage. Without the ability to motivate by means of the written and spoken word or the telling number, a manager cannot be successful." —Peter F. Drucker, Marie Rankin Clark Professor of Social Sciences and Management, Claremont Graduate University.

Dean Kees de Kluyver of the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management observes, "What distinguishes Peter Drucker from many other thought leaders in my mind is that he cared not just about how business manages its resources, but also how public and private organizations operate morally and ethically within society. He respected the values of education, personal responsibility, and business' accountability to society. His true legacy is his insistence on this value system, and its effect on business, society, and individual lives." This is the concept of business management for the common good, an approach distinctively formulated by Drucker.

Drucker wrote a foreword to a book of collected writings by Robert Greenleaf. The book On Becoming a Servant Leader is about the social responsibility leaders in all realms and contexts should assume. Alas, more is the pity that these lessons are not always learned by the learned. Drucker has also been credited with the emergence of the rule of consultants in the business world. While some view consultants as post-modern sophists...taking your watch to tell you want time it is...Drucker, like Greenleaf's "Servant Leader" was aiming to educate and develop an enlightened class of leaders.

Drucker at the CBA

When Drucker named Rand as the team's new field manager, there were concerns, even sme snickering that the old man had finally sold out. Drucker has been identified with a process of thought that innately understood the need for workers to be empowered. He was also convinced by his experience of fascism in Europe that big government was futile. His sense that business was best when it was for the common good seemed a bit too humanitarian if not altruistic for the likes of Rand and her philosophy. However, managing a cosmic baseball team should be no different then managing a corporation like General Motors. Rand got the team two games over .500 in 1999 and three games over in 2000. But in 2001 the team lost more games than it won racking up a .451 winning percentage (73-89). Everyone expected Drucker to get Rand out of the dugout. But the management guru held his ground. In 2002 the team compiled a winning record (89-73). In 2003 they only played .500 (81-81). Still, the man, who in 1981 called the Girl Scouts of America the best run organization in the United States, stood by his field manager. That loyalty paid off. The Capitalists won 103 games during the 2004 season . The team made it to the biggest series of them all. Unfortunately, they lost grasping the big prize, in four straight games, to the Wonderland Warriors.

Drucker's corporeal death will have no immediate impact, direct or indirect, on his ownership of the Capitalists.

Rest in peace Mr. Drucker.

2005 Cosmic Universal Series
Game One Pitchers Announced

When the Dharma Beats meet the Delta Dragons in the DeltaDome for Game One of the 2005 Cosmic Universal Series, women will dominate the pitcher's mound. The Dragons announced that the singer/songwriter Laura Nyro will be their Game One starter. The Beats followed suit and gender and announced that Beat poet matron Diane di Prima will be their starting pitcher for Game One.

Diane di Prima posted some good figures this season with a 15-9 won-loss record and a 3.51 earned run average. She was a prime contributor to the Dharma Beats pennant winning season. Outside of cosmic baseball she is well known for her participation in the Beat Generation movement from the late 1950s. Her book Memoirs of a Beatnik an autobiography published in 1969, is distinctive for its sexuality. As one of the luminous women in a movement sometimes ridiculed for its exclusion of females, di Prima has become a leading voice for the feminist wing of the Beats. The book details the poet's life beginning at the point she dropped out of college at the age of 18. The book opens with a roiling sex scene only to back up and tell of how she met this man and how she ultimately dumped him to please the woman she was truly in love with…the one she dropped out of college to move in with.(Kathryn Petruccelli) Born in August 6, 1934, di Prima is nearly fourteen years older than the opposing pitcher, Laura Nyro (b. October 18, 1947). At the age of 17 Nyro wrote the song And When I Die that was popularized by the folk singing trio, Peter, Paul and Mary. Nyro's numbers this season weren't phenomenal but she always came through for the Dragons when they needed her to. Nyro won 14 and lost 14 games and compiled a 4.18 earned run average. It is two women on the mound...but the comparisons stop there. Okay, two remarkably creative souls will be on the mound to start this season's Cosmic Universal Series. But there the comparisons should stop. One of them might win Game One, but only one of them can. Despite the numbers, despite the weight of popular and public opinion, we have put our faith in the pure musician. We think the Dragons, behind Ms. Nyro, will prevail on Thanksgiving day. We'll see.

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