Rudolph P. “Rudy” Lamone, Former Dean of University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, Dies – Baltimore Sun

Rudolph P. “Rudy” Lamone, a former Army veteran and bandleader who later became a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and was the dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business for nearly two decades, died of COVID-January 19 30 at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The resident of Annapolis was 91 years old.

“When Rudy came to Maryland, it was a mediocre business school that was overcrowded with students, had limited resources, and was a far cry from the business school we desired,” said William E. “Brit” Kirwin, past president of the University of Maryland, College Park.

“I always thought he was a man who was way ahead of his time and had a keen sense of where business school should be and the role of the university, and he understood that role and pointed the way,” recalled Dr . Kirwin, who served as Chancellor and CEO of the University of Maryland from 2002 to 2015.

“He also understood the evolving role of entrepreneurship at this time and he understood the value of fundraising and private sector involvement in the school,” said Dr. Kirvin.

Charles Ota Heller was a colleague and a close friend.

“What made Rudy unique as the dean of the business school was that most deans spent time raising money and managing staff, but with him it was all about the students,” said Dr. Brighter. “He loved them and they loved him. He helped them with their personal problems, bent the rules to help them, had connections across the country, and helped them find jobs. He was just a loved one who still has a following.”

Rudolph Phillip Lamone, son of Italian immigrant parents from Abruzzo, Dominic Lamone and Mary Branch Lamone, was born and raised in Wellsburg, West Virginia.

In his youth, Dr. Lamone, an accomplished saxophonist, to become a professional musician. Roughly his age, he used the end of a burned cork to simulate a fake beard and stubble, and slipped through dimly lit back entrances into Pittsburgh nightclubs to avoid being recognized as a minor, family members said.

After graduating from Wellsburg High School, he toured the country with a series of big bands for several years before enlisting in the Army in 1952, where he served with the 440th Army Band at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

After being discharged from the Army in 1955, he enrolled at Campbell College, now Campbell University, in Buies Creek, North Carolina, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1958.

At 26, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his Ph.D. 1966 where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma.

He began teaching business administration at College Park in 1966, where he proved a transformative figure, leading the business school from a “small collective of talented professors into a nationally recognized college now known as the Robert H. Smith School of Business.” . to a University of Maryland profile announcing his death.

dr Rising rapidly through the academic ranks, Lamone served as the dean of the business school from 1973 to 1992 and was also responsible for founding the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship in 1986, named after Michael D. Dingman, who taught the school with a 1 US -Dollar donated a gift of millions.

The Dingman Center was “one of the first entrepreneurship centers in a business school and recognized nationally as an incubator of opportunities for emerging businesses,” according to the Maryland profile.

it was dr Lamone, the Dr. Heller lured to the university.

“I ran a software company and Rudy talked me into coming over in 1990 to run the Entrepreneurship Center. At the time, academics didn’t realize that studying entrepreneurship was worthwhile, but Rudy didn’t see it that way,” recalls Dr. Brighter. “He thought it should be a major and the University of Maryland needed a center for these ideas and of course all of that came from him and he was able to convince the Maryland authorities and he did it.”

dr Kirwin said: “Rudy was well connected in the business world and had very high standards. The caliber of people he brought to business school was phenomenal.”

In 1988, the College of Business and Management received the Outstanding Educational Institutional Award, a national honor bestowed by the National Black MBA Association in recognition of UM’s excellence in recruiting and retaining black students pursuing a master’s degree in business administration.

“He is committed to bringing African American students and professors to the school, such as Lemma W. Senbet, Chair and Professor of Finance, who is an international star and came to us from the University of Wisconsin,” said Dr. Kirvin.

Although he retired as dean in 1992, he remained actively involved with the center until his death. He spent hours coaching and mentoring students he called “My Children.”

While at business school, he met and fell in love with the former Linda Hefler, who earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business and later her law degree from the University of Maryland School in 1979 had of the law.

The couple married in 1970 and eventually settled in Annapolis.

In addition to his work at the university, Dr. Lamone appointed to the Baltimore District Advisory Council for the Small Business Administration in 1976.

In 1998 dr. Lamone, who was a very popular and admired figure on campus, was awarded the President’s Medal of the University of Maryland, and for his many accomplishments, the business school’s diner was named Rudy’s Cafe in his honor.

dr Lamone, an honoree at the Dingman Center’s annual Rudy Awards, was recently notified of his induction into the Smith School’s inaugural Hall of Fame.

A successful entrepreneur himself, he co-founded DirectGene, a biotechnology company developing gene therapies to treat metastatic prostate and breast cancer.

He was also a venture partner at Gabriel Venture Partners in Annapolis and Redwood Shores, California. In recognition of his lifelong support of entrepreneurship, the accounting firm Ernst & Young named him Entrepreneur of the Year in 1996.

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Several programs at the university honor Dr. Lamone and his legacy.

He and his wife endowed the Rudolph P. and Linda H. Lamone Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship.

The Rudolph P. Lamone Chair for Entrepreneurial Leadership was founded by Leon Van Munching, a 1950 Maryland graduate student, and his wife, Peggy Van Munching.

Colleagues and friends also established the Rudolph P. Lamone Fund for Excellence in Entrepreneurship, which supports new and innovative programs, student summer internships, lecture programs, and other activities that expand the educational experiences of students at College Park.

dr Lamone was semi-retired at his death and enjoyed travelling, golfing, gardening and cooking with his wife. He was a member of the Naval Academy Golf Association, the Annapolis Yacht Club and the Center Club.

April 8 at 3:00 p.m. at the University of Maryland Memorial Chapel on Baltimore Ave. A celebration of life gathering was held at College Park at 7600, followed by a reception at Van Munching Hall.

In addition to his 53-year-old wife, Linda H. Lamone, who is the state election administrator, Dr. Lamone a brother, Eugene “Beef” Lamone of Fort Myers, Florida; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.