GOMBERG, PROFESSOR WILLIAM1911-1985

Reports and correspondence relating to Gomberg's employment as consultant bythe United States Mutual Security Agency, to advise European trade unions andothers on means of improving post war productivity in Europe.

Professor William Gomberg 1911-1985

Gomberg was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York City. Aftergraduating from the City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science in1933, he entered the field of labour relations. Gomberg began his careerworking for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (IGLWU) as acollective bargaining agent representing the union in contract negotiations.In 1941, Gomberg became the head of the management engineering department ofthe IGLWU, a post he held until 1956. During this period he studiedindustrial engineering at New York University and receive his Master's degreein 1941. Six years later he got his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Gomberg decided to enter into the academic world in 1956. He became aprofessor of industrial engineering at Washington University in St. Louis andheld visiting professor posts at the University of California, Columbia'sGraduate School of Business Administration, and Stanford University. In 1959he joined the faculty of the Wharton School at the University ofPennsylvania, where he stayed for the remainder of his career as a Professorof Management and Industrial Relations.

During his time at the Wharton School, Gomberg wrote extensively on thesubjects of labour and management. Gomberg worked with Arthur B. Shostak inwriting Blue Collar World (1964) and New Perspectives on Poverty (1965). Hisresearch varied from a study of the entrepreneurial potential of the PaiuteIndians at Pyramid Lake to the effects of technology upon work. Much of hiswritings during the 1960s and 1970s concentrated upon the psychology ofmanagement. For much of this period he worked on collecting material for ahistory of management theory in the United States. William Gomberg died on 8December 1985.

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Kolko, G.

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