Dr. Paul Hersey

On Tuesday December 18th, Dr. Paul “Doc” Hersey, Founder and Chairman of the Board of The Center for Leadership Studies, passed away peacefully at the age of 81. In his final moments, he was surrounded by his loving wife Suzie, close family and friends.

Dr. Paul Hersey is internationally recognized as a leading authority on training and development in leadership and management. The Situational Leadership® Model he developed has been used to train more than 14 million managers in thousands of companies across the globe and is deployed in 70% of Fortune 500 companies.

A staunch advocate of education, Dr. Hersey has received numerous degrees from various institutions, including a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science from Seton Hall University.

After developing The Situational Leadership® Model in the late 1960s, Dr. Paul Hersey spent the last 40+ years traveling the globe to teach his model to leaders from all over the world. His love of teaching was unmatched as was evidenced by his insistence to follow through on a client commitment in mid-November, despite his failing health.

At the time of his death, Dr. Paul Hersey was a Distinguished Professor of Leadership Studies at Nova Southeastern University and formerly served on the faculties of Northern Illinois University, California State College at Chico, The University of Arkansas and Ohio University. In addition, Dr. Hersey also served as Chairman of the Department of Management, Dean of the School of Business and President of California American University – Graduate School of Applied Behavioral Science.

Dr. Hersey has authored or coauthored numerous papers, articles and books, including the best-selling management text “Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources” along with “Organizational Change Through Effective Leadership” and “Selling: A Behavioral Science Approach,” “The Situational Leader,” “Situational Selling,” “Situational Service: Customer Care for the Practitioner” and “Situational Parenting.” Dr. Hersey introduced his most recent book at ASTD in May of 2012 titled “Leadership Blueprint: Why We Better Lead and Lead Better.”

Most importantly, Dr. Paul Hersey will be remembered as a man with an incredibly generous spirit who adored his wife Suzie, his six children, Glenna Withem and her husband, Jimmie of Athens, OH; Deborah Hersey of Lucadia, CA; David Hersey and his wife, Kate of Escondido, CA; Maureen Shriver and her husband, Sam of Durham, NC; Michael Hersey and his wife, Robyn of Nevato, CA; and Garth Hersey of Escondido, CA; brothers, Ralph Hersey; Fred Hersey; and Alfred Hersey;16 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.