It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of a great figure at the JKU: Professor Gerhard Reber passed away on December 7 at the age of 86.

Gerhard Reber played a key role in introducing behavior-oriented business administration in German-speaking Europe, leaving a lasting mark on the international direction pursued by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics & Business at the Johannes Kepler University. Over many years, he embodied the very essence of the university.

Born in Mannheim on April 28, 1937, Gerhard Reber studied business administration at the Mannheim School of Economics between 1957 and 1962. He earned his doctorate degree (Dr. rer. pol.) in 1965, followed by a DAAD scholarship to study abroad, spending a year at the University of Toronto and earning an MBA in 1966. After returning from Canada, he entered academia as an assistant at the Department of Human Resources and Ergonomics in Mannheim (Prof. Marx), and at the Institute for Social Management (Prof. Kolbinger) in Linz.

He earned his postdoctoral qualifications in 1972 at what was then the University of Social and Economic Sciences in Linz, now the Johannes Kepler University Linz. He was appointed full professor and head of the Institute for Organizational Research in Business Administration in 1973. Between 1985 and 1986, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics & Business.

Prof. Reber spent time abroad as a visiting professor, including guest professorship positions at the University of Dallas (USA) in 1977, at the University of Toronto and York University (Canada) in 1982, and again in the USA, at Emory University in Atlanta, in 1987/88. He was Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto between 1995 to 1999.

He was presented with honorary doctorate degrees by the University of St. Gallen (1991), the Turku School of Economics (2001), and the Dubolyubov State Linguistic University in Nizhny Novgorod (2001).

His academic and scholarly activities cover a broad spectrum of behavioral-oriented topics in business administration, particularly topics focusing on leadership research and comparative cultural management research. He served as co-editor of the renowned business journal "Die Betriebswirtschaft", and co-editor of the "Handwörterbuch der Führung". His approach to comparative cultural research has always been characterized by international partnerships as he strongly believed that one could only adequately interpret findings by involving researchers based in the country in which the study was being conducted.

His personal, positive experiences stemming from his many stays abroad profoundly shaped his personal growth and development, and is reflected in his academic and scholarly work and activities. It was his heartfelt desire to establish the parameters at the university that would give countless students and faculty members the opportunity to acquire invaluable experience outside their own comfort zone while simultaneously growing professionally and personally during the process.

As a result, business graduates from the JKU were soon able to additionally earn a coveted MBA degree at renowned universities in North America, and the JKU joined the Erasmus network, enabling students to take part in numerous exchange programs and global joint degree programs.

As part of his pioneering role, he focused on creating added value by means of partnerships, realizing potential synergies between supposed opposites, the university and the surrounding business/residential area, between educators and students, between theoreticians and professionals, between social partners and, in particular, between members from different cultural groups. He always took the lead and went the extra mile when it came to all of these partnerships and collaboration efforts.

Prof. Reber was a man of action, tirelessly putting individual pieces of the puzzle together to form a whole. He launched the JKU’s now Center for Business Languages and Intercultural Communications, which he chaired beginning in 1985 until his retirement. In 1988, he established the Institute for International Management Studies to serve as a central hub in support of international activities; he remained an active board member up until his retirement. As the driving force behind establishing the LIMAK and serving as Academic Director between 1990 and 2003, he was able to pool the many university partnerships he had built up at the student and executive education level. The resulting partnerships fostered a vibrant, dynamic, and fruitful academic exchange between students, faculty members, researchers, experts, and professionals.

Prof. Reber was offered professorship positions at the University of Paderborn (1975) and the Technical University of Darmstadt (1981), all of which he turned down, remaining loyal to the Johannes Kepler University. When he received a very attractive offer from the University of Cologne in 1986, an extraordinary situation occurred in Linz: The Austrian Student Union collected signatures from among the student body and presented a petition to the then Minister of Science, Herta Firnberg. Impressed by the fact that students wanted to keep their professor, the Minister insisted on personally meeting the man and she began negotiations. The outcome was being offered a second institute to support international activities, in addition to his original Institute for Organizational Behavior (of which he remained head of the department until his retirement). The state of Upper Austria, the city of Linz, and the two social partners, the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Labor, supported the initiative by providing a special joint budget to support international activities. The special budget was then successively assumed by regional companies.

Prof. Reber had an open door policy and an open ear for everyone; there was never an inconvenient time to approach him with a request for advice or assistance. He enjoyed staying in contact with the many people who not only took his classes, but also with whom he worked together with, along with a personal worldwide network of colleagues, sharing ideas in a friendly, constructive, and professional manner.

With the passing of Gerhard Reber, we have lost an exceptionally dedicated colleague, friend, and tremendous educator, whose vision, passion, drive, integrity and love of others will never be forgotten. The Johannes Kepler University is greatly indebted to em.Univ. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Reber and will continue to remember him and honor his memory.