World business chief and generous philanthropist Jerome (Jerry) A. Chazen, who started the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for World-wide Business enterprise at Columbia Company School in 1991, passed away on Sunday, February 6, 2022 at the age of 94.
A self-created businessman who prided himself in “breaking all the rules,” Chazen rose to the best ranges of results in the business enterprise environment. He began his profession on Wall Avenue ahead of turning out to be a pioneer in retailing, most notably as a cofounder of the Liz Claiborne Enterprise. Fewer than a decade immediately after the corporation was set up in 1976, Liz Claiborne experienced far more than $1 billion in income and was stated on the Fortune 500. The New York Periods named him “the architect of the company’s spectacular expansion.” Amongst the innovations he spearheaded was insisting that clothes separates – blouses, pants, skirts, and so on. – be hung in the same region of the retailer somewhat than, as was the observe at the time, in various departments. He also served popularize trousers as a method of costume for doing the job girls at a time when dresses had been customary garb.
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It was in production, nevertheless, that he manufactured his major mark. “When we established Liz Claiborne, it turned swiftly clear we would not discover adequate manufacturing facility space in this country to make garments at the price tag and high-quality we needed,” Chazen mentioned. His recommendation that the enterprise outsource to factories abroad horrified Ms. Claiborne. “We can’t even handle our vegetation in New Jersey,” he remembers she mentioned. Undaunted, he started outsourcing to Hong Kong, and in just a yr, all the company’s dresses were being designed abroad. Thereafter, Liz Claiborne grew to become a world wide trend powerhouse and was described by Fortune as a person of the 10 most effective managed businesses in the planet, with document profits and earnings in a tough, competitive surroundings.
In addition to his profound affect throughout industries, Chazen was a stalwart supporter of Columbia Organization College and its mission. A 1950 graduate of Columbia Small business School, he founded the Chazen Institute for World wide Organization due to the fact, he felt, “every scholar that graduates from Columbia Small business School must comprehend global trade and the simple fact that this is a global economic system.”
“Jerry’s concentration on globalization’s possibilities and issues place Columbia Enterprise Faculty on the map in top important small business and coverage conversations,” claimed Glenn Hubbard, director of the Chazen Institute and dean emeritus of Columbia Organization University.
Chazen also supplied invaluable steerage via his part as co-chair of the Institute’s International Advisory Board, as nicely as the advisory boards for the ECLA method, the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Centre, and the Lang Fund. He was chairman emeritus and one particular of the longest-serving members of the Columbia Organization School Board with 32 decades of service, and also served as a trustee of Columbia University.
“Jerry’s generosity touched hundreds of learners, and he encouraged us all with his business acumen, broad vision, and heat humor. We will endlessly be grateful for his existence in our lives and outstanding legacy,” stated Costis Maglaras, dean and David and Lyn Silfen Professor of Organization at Columbia Company Faculty.
Above the several years, the Institute has engaged generations of MBA students in World-wide Immersion Systems, in which learners meet for 50 percent a term to examine organization techniques in one more place and then stop by the region to fulfill with enterprise executives and govt officials. The Institute also features language courses, supports school and PhD exploration and circumstance scientific studies on global business and economic concerns, and organizes boards in which the world’s leading leaders and thinkers share views on the forces shaping the global marketplace. Further sizeable initiatives for learners and the public include things like Global Research Tours, MBA Exchange, and Chazen World-wide Insights, the Institute’s electronic thought management system.
“Jerry was well-known for currently being early to see the international likely of business enterprise,” mentioned Lulu Chow Wang ’83, co-chair of the Institute’s World wide Advisory Board and member of the Columbia Enterprise School Board. “What manufactured Jerry distinct was that he understood the math of having a business enterprise world-wide, but far more importantly, he understood the human part of accomplishing so. He was so thriving because he comprehended and highly regarded the people he worked with, in no matter what nation they have been. In convert, they and every person else in Jerry’s daily life reliable, revered, and loved him. We have all discovered so considerably from his case in point – about business and about becoming a wonderful human becoming.”
Chazen’s generosity of spirit prolonged considerably further than his help of Columbia Enterprise University and the University. All through his lifetime, he volunteered his time and expertise with many non-profits and institutions, which include the College of Wisconsin Foundation, the Museum of Arts and Layout, the 92nd Avenue Y, the Partnership for New York Town, the Countrywide Jewish Centre of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, and the Louis Armstrong Property Museum.
Chazen was married to his spouse, Simona, of 72 many years, with whom he shared a mutual appreciate of artwork and jazz. He is survived by his wife, a few young children like David, a 1986 graduate of Columbia Small business University and member of the Institute’s Worldwide Advisory Board, seven grandchildren, and 1 terrific-grandchild.