A Tribute to Pete Bucklin
My teacher, mentor, and friend
I met Pete in 1985 as a fresh graduate student from India in the Berkeley Business School’s Ph.D. program. There were many famous professors in the Berkeley Marketing Department at that time. I gravitated towards Pete because we had common academic interests and he was warm and welcoming.
Several pleasant memories come to mind about how our relationship evolved over time.
Pete and I had a research paper accepted for presentation at the University of Washington, Seattle in 1988. Although there was a shortage of travel funds in the department, Pete felt it would be good for me to make my first conference presentation. He approached Professor David Teece, who had funds, on my behalf, who kindly agreed to reimburse my travel expenses.
The conference hotels were full by the time we registered for the conference. Pete and I both stayed in the same student dormitory in bunk beds. It was an eye-opener for me, that this famous professor from Berkeley would share the same accommodations with a Ph.D. student!
I needed to do some face-to-face interviews with senior Silicon Valley executives for my dissertation. Pete would pick me up at dawn and drive us in his Volvo to 8 AM breakfast meetings with executives in the Valley. He showed me how to do primary research by example. It was a fantastic learning experience.
I wasn’t able to finish my dissertation research within the 4-year time limit of my initial funding. Pete arranged for me to be a Graduate Student Instructor for an additional year so I could stay and complete my dissertation. This gave me valuable teaching experience with undergraduate students.
Pete wrote about 60 letters of introduction for me to his colleagues in other US universities when I was ready to graduate. This helped me land my first academic position at the University of Maryland.
On my graduation day, after Pete hooded me at the commencement ceremony, he said, “You can stop calling me Professor Bucklin now. Just call me Pete”.
After I moved to Maryland, Pete and I published several research papers together. One of them got a prestigious award from the Journal of Marketing. Wherever I went as an assistant professor, people asked me who my Ph.D. advisor was. The very mention of Pete’s name opened many doors for me. That was due to the excellent reputation Pete had within the Marketing academic community. Later, Pete encouraged me to publish papers on my own and work with other co-authors to establish my own independent reputation.
In 1996 I had the opportunity to return to the Bay Area to teach at San Francisco State University. It was exciting to move back closer to Pete. Soon after our return to the Bay Area, Pete invited my wife and me to his daughter’s wedding in Lake Tahoe. We were treated like family at this special event. Pete always reminded me that being my Ph.D. advisor, he was my “academic parent”, and there was no getting away from that.
In 2001 I wanted to spend part of my first sabbatical in Sweden. Pete wrote to his friend, Professor Lars Gunnar Mattson at the Stockholm School of Economics on my behalf, who arranged for me to visit there. During this visit, I was lucky to see Pete awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Stockholm School of Economics in a grand ceremony.
What can I say about the man who had the most profound impact on my life in the USA? He was a wonderful mentor and trained me to be a professional educator. He also imparted to me the importance of being a good person: kind and gracious, generous and caring. Thanks, Pete, for all the good times we had together. I will never forget you.
PS: Pete passed away on June 16, 2012. An earlier version of the above was read at his memorial service on July 9, 2012.
Thanks to Trista Signe Ainsworth for the prompt, A Thank You Note to a Teacher.
