Harold Edward Fearon

He was born in Pittsburgh, PA on April 22, 1931. Raised in Indiana, Harold graduated from Indiana University with a BS and an MBA. He met his wife, Dottie, when they were both students, and on June 20, 1954 they were married, a week after they graduated. Soon thereafter, Harold reported for active duty in the US Army and was assigned to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. He and Dottie lived in Waynesville, MO, a small town next to the base, and their son, Rick, was born at the post hospital in 1956.

After leaving the Army, the family moved to East Lansing, MI where Harold had been admitted to the PhD program at Michigan State University. Their second son, Scott, was born in Lansing, and in 1961, after receiving his PhD, the family moved to Tempe, AZ, where he had accepted a job as an Assistant Professor of Management at ASU.

Harold had three careers over his long life. His first career was in academia. In 1966, he became Chairman of the Management Department at ASU, a position he held for 17 years. During his tenure, the department’s full-time faculty grew from 6 to 32. In 1984, he helped establish a new department at ASU, the Department of Supply Chain Management, and he became its first Chairman. Today, this department is ranked as one of the best in the country.

Harold became deeply involved in many projects as a teacher, researcher, administrator, and author. With support from the National Association of Purchasing Management, now known as the Institute of Supply Management, he began a monthly report on business conditions in AZ. He produced this report for 30 years. Harold was the founding editor of the Journal of Purchasing, the first magazine focused on purchasing, where he was editor for 9 years. He coauthored several books on purchasing and published over 450 articles for business and academic journals.

While still a professor, Harold began to be involved in several business activities. In 1979, he was appointed by the Governor of AZ to the position of Trustee of the State of AZ Public Safety Personnel Retirement Fund, a position he held for 3 years. He was also one of a group of Tempeans who in 1982 founded the Rio Salado Bank and was a member of the Board of Directors until the sale of the bank in 1994 to Zions Bancorp.

In honor of Harold’s long career, in 1994 the Harold E. Fearon Chair in Purchasing Management was established at ASU.

Harold’s second career was as a researcher in the field of purchasing. In 1986, he founded the Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies (“CAPS”), now known as CAPS Research. He retired from ASU in 1989 to become the first Director of CAPS, a position he held until 1996.

For his third career, in the early 2000s, Harold became a general partner in a local hedge fund, The Southwest Growth Fund, which invested in companies based in the US southwest. He remained a general partner until 2020.

Harold received many honors over his long career. He received the ASU College of Business Teaching Excellence Award in 1989 and was elected to the ASU College of Business Hall of Fame in 1990. The Eli Broad College of Business Alumni Association at Michigan State University awarded him the Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award in October 2003. And, in 2000, Harold was awarded the highest award for research by the International Federation of Purchasing and Materials Management.

Harold had boundless energy, as the above resume of his career makes so clear. Life with him was never dull.

In the last couple of decades, Harold and Dottie enjoyed going on cruises all around the world, ultimately going on over 100 cruises.

His family was so important to him, and he was a wonderful husband and loving Dad, Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather. He will be greatly missed by all who loved and knew him.

Harold is survived by Dottie, his wife of 69 years; by his sons, Rick and Scott, and their wives; by his 5 grandchildren; and by a great grandson.