Arvind V. Phatak, award-winning professor emeritus of management at Temple, lecturer, and author, dies at 85

Arvind V. Phatak, 85, of Blue Bell, a forward-thinking professor emeritus of management and international business at Temple University, former chairman of the school’s management department, consultant to the U.S. government and private industry, worldwide lecturer, and author, died Sunday, April 3, of lung cancer at home.

Known at Temple as the grandfather of globalization for his prescience on worldwide business policy, Dr. Phatak joined Temple in 1966 as an assistant professor and rose to the school’s Laura H. Carnell professor of management and international business, and executive director of its Institute of Global Management Studies, and Center for International Business Education and Research.

He was also chairman of Temple’s management, and general and strategic management departments; director of its international business program; and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Hawaii, and the Anglican Regional Management Center in England. He oversaw many exceptional doctoral dissertations, and a conference room at Temple is named in his honor.

“Thousands of students and colleagues have benefited from Dr. Phatak’s wisdom over more than four decades,” a colleague wrote in an online tribute.

He was a consultant to the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce. He created curriculum and cofounded schools, and advised private industry in India, England, the Netherlands, Canada, Colombia, and elsewhere. He lectured around the world on strategic planning and management, reviewed and wrote dozens of papers and articles, and published or copublished seven books, including 2004′s International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment.

In a tribute, Ronald Anderson, dean of Temple’s Fox School of Business and the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, called Dr. Phatak an “icon in the Fox community.”

“From the slums of India to life in America, he could explain the complexity of cultural differences,” said his wife, Rhoda.

As a teacher and mentor, Dr. Phatak emphasized discussion in the classroom, called writing on the blackboard “a waste of time,” and challenged himself to learn the names of hundreds of students in less than a month by attaching their photographs and names to index cards. His home became a second home for many of his international pupils, especially at holidays.

His walls were covered with awards, and he told The Inquirer in 1988 after winning Temple’s Great Teacher Award that working with students was more rewarding than collecting a fatter paycheck in the corporate world. “You couldn’t give me enough money to leave what I am doing in the classroom,” he said.

He earned a Fulbright senior research fellowship in 1986 to study joint ventures between the United States and India, donated to many international educational and developmental projects and charities, and coordinated exchange student programs and leadership conferences in India, the United Arab Emirates, China, and elsewhere.

“He was always focused on the future,” said his son Rajesh. “He talked about the long term, about how things today would be 10 years from now.”

Born July 8, 1936, in Baroda, India, known now as Vadodara, Dr. Phatak earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in botany from the University of Baroda. He arrived in the United States in 1960 and earned a master’s degree in business at Temple in 1963 and a doctorate in management at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1966.

He met Rhoda Harris at UCLA in July 1966. They married two months later, had sons Vikram and Rajesh, and daughter Viveca, and lived in the same house in Blue Bell since 1973.

Dr. Phatak often initiated lively conversation at the dinner table, and his daughter relished their family discussions beside a glowing fire when the power went out. He spoke five languages and was learning Spanish when he died.

He became a U.S. citizen in 1971, sponsored many others for their citizenship, and told his daughter he preferred the United States to all the other places he lived or visited because “everything is here.” He followed politics, doted on his bichon dogs, and penned an unpublished autobiography called Conversations with My Daughter.

He meditated twice a day, was committed to nutrition and physical fitness, followed UCLA men’s basketball and had season tickets for Temple men’s basketball after he moved to Montgomery County.

Education and its role in shaping the future was always a priority. “He was learning up to his last day,” said his daughter.

In addition to his wife and children, Dr. Phatak is survived by three grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

A service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, May 6, at Joseph Ambler Inn, 1005 Horsham Rd., North Wales, Pa. 19454.