Dr. Owen Hall, Jr., or “Junior (‘you know, like Junior Mints’)” as he liked to be called, was a scholar, professor, colleague, author, friend, husband, father, and grandpa—and all-round extraordinary person. Earlier he served as editor-in-chief of the Graziadio Business Review, and later he enjoyed writing editorials about three (of his many) favorite subjects: management education, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. He loved to find quotes and cartoons to liven up dry topics and bring a smile to the reader.
A quick-witted man, he often told jokes, and would start every conversation teasing me with a running “funny” about something silly that happened years ago. We also shared stories about the escapades of our grandchildren. He mentioned one day that he had recently posted a book on Amazon, and when I looked up his name, I found he wrote historical fiction about times of war and a book about battle cruisers. We were both graduates of the University of Southern California (to those of you on the East Coast and USC to us Californians) and he often ended emails and our conversations with “Fight On” or signal me with the USC Trojan “Fight On” salute from across the room.
Dr. Hall was a forward-thinking scholar. Pre-pandemic and pre-Zoom, there were the days when he was promoting a robotic monitor on a stand that could move about a room to represent a student who couldn’t be in class and thus be able to attend remotely. Junior would be rolling through a faculty gathering, his face peering out from the monitor making conversations with people he passed.
Junior was a man devoted to Pepperdine, his students, and his colleagues and was a stalwart member on many committees, always looking for how to best serve the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and the University. At this link you will find more about some of his accomplishments at Pepperdine, and here is a link to a richer description of who Junior was.
The week before his death, on May 26, 2021, he sent me his last editorial “How AI Can Help Developing Countries Post COVID-19” that he co-authored with his graduate research assistant, Enekole Atabo. And he sent me one last peer review. He always loved working with the GBR.
So, it is appropriate that we dedicate this final issue of the Graziadio Business Review to Dr. Owen Hall, Jr.
We will miss you, Junior, Fight On.—Nancy Ellen Dodd, former editor-in-chief.
