Wayne S. DeSarbo
1948-2024
Wayne S. DeSarbo received his B.S. degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has M.A. degrees in Sociology, Administrative Science/O.R., and Marketing from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. Wayne obtained his Ph.D. in Marketing and Statistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.
Wayne served as a distinguished faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and Penn State University.
Wayne was extraordinarily prolific. Michel Wedel, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland, has this observation on Wayne’s scholarship. “I was enormously impressed by his work on methodological innovations in clustering, conjoint analysis, and multidimensional scaling, and by his extensive publication record in major journals in Marketing and Psychometrics.” Kamel Jedidi, Jerome A. Chazen Professor of Global Business, Columbia Business School, and a doctoral student of Wayne observes this, “Wayne made significant and lasting contributions to the fields of marketing, statistics, and psychometrics. He published over 280 papers across these disciplines, with more than 25,500 citations on Google Scholar. In the field of marketing, he will be remembered as one of the greatest methodologists the field has known—renowned for his seminal work on positioning, market structure, conjoint analysis, and market segmentation.”
Gurumurthy Kalyanaram (GK), a fellow academic, has this recollection: “I know Wayne largely through his impactful work which spanned the breadth of inquiry: analytical and measurement to conceptual and substantive areas. In a recent review of estimation of threshold effects (e.g., bootstrapping, switching regression), I was grappling with the question of how to estimate when the magnitudes of threshold effects are small. I discovered an elegant paper by Wayne and Duncan – maybe the only one addressing this issue.”
Duncan K. H. Fong, Frank and Mary Jean Smeal Research Fellow, Professor of Marketing and Statistics at Penn State, in his nomination letter to American Statistical Association for recognition of Wayne as a Fellow of the Association in 2016 summarizes it all: “Dr. DeSarbo is a prolific writer who has published over 200 refereed articles. He is one of the prominent scholars who has laid the foundation for multivariate statistical methods used in marketing and psychology… he clearly deserves this overdue honor based on his outstanding research, excellent teaching, and dedicated service to the profession.” Wayne was elected as Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2016.
Wayne’s collaborative spirit was legendary. Almost all his intellectual output carries this stamp of collaboration, be it co-authorship and/or mentorship. Listen to his co-authors, and his doctoral student speak to this. Michel: “Wayne was enormously generous with his time and support. He started working on several projects with me when I was working in a company and he didn’t stand to gain from the collaboration. We continued working together until shortly before his passing. I learned more from him than I can describe here, not only technically, but also personally. Wayne was deeply interested in and passionate about the projects he took on.” Duncan: “Wayne introduced me to the exciting field of Marketing and encouraged me to move to the Marketing Department during a college reorganization in 2002. We have coauthored many papers together and co-advised several doctoral students in Marketing.” Kamel: “Wayne was the best teacher, mentor, and co-author one could hope for. He introduced me to foundational methods such as multidimensional scaling, preference mapping, conjoint analysis, and classification models—tools that I would go on to develop further and apply extensively in my research in marketing. Rather than assigning me typical research assistant tasks, Wayne involved me directly in his own research as a co-author. Early on, I may have been more of an apprentice, but over time with his support, I became an equal partner. That early opportunity not only accelerated my development as a researcher, but it also laid the foundation for a long and fulfilling collaboration between Wayne and myself. Together, we published 20 articles in refereed marketing, statistical, and psychometric journals. My academic achievements would not have reached the same level without Wayne’s unwavering investment in me—his time, mentorship, and belief in my potential made all the difference.”
How do colleagues remember him? Here is Doug Bowman, Professor of Marketing Emory University and President Emeritus of INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, “Wayne was such a joy to interact with. His humble, thoughtful approach was engaging. I learned something every time we talked. I wish our field had more “Waynes”.” Michel: “Wayne DeSarbo left an indelible impression on the fields of Marketing and Psychometrics, and on his students, colleagues, and friends. I hope the younger generations of Marketing scholars will continue to remember him as one of the greatest methodologists our field has known. I will remember him in addition as a generous mentor and a very good friend.” Duncan: “Wayne was a kind gentleman and Duncan felt blessed to be his colleague and friend for many years.” GK remembers Wayne thus: “Wayne was incredibly accessible to those that sought him and wanted to work with him. I wish I had reached out to him.”
Kamel speaks to the legendary generosity of Wayne. “One vivid example of his generosity and character comes from my first year in the Wharton PhD program. Wayne asked if I could help him run statistical analyses for a consulting project and wondered how much he should compensate me. I told him there was no need to pay me because I hadn’t yet fulfilled the eight hours of work required by my research assistant duties. Surprised by my response, Wayne laughed and said, “How am I supposed to exploit you when nobody else has?” On his own initiative, Wayne paid me $50 an hour—at the time, the equivalent of a full month’s minimum wage in Tunisia. That gesture speaks volumes about his fairness, generosity, and respect for others. Such treatment was not unique to me. During Wayne’s memorial service at the Wetzler Funeral Home in Bellefonte, PA, I heard the same sentiments echoed again by colleagues, students, and staff. The love, respect, and admiration people felt for Wayne were as genuine and palpable as they were widespread.”
As in research, so in life. Wayne was eclectic, playful and whimsical. Arvind Rangaswamy, University Distinguished Professor of Marketing, Smeal College of Business, Penn State University has this recollection, "One of my fondest memories of Wayne, which speaks to his playful nature, is when, just a few months after joining Penn State, he bought a Nittany Lion costume for my daughter who was a toddler at that time. To this day, she cherishes it and fondly remembers the 'uncle' who gave it to her." As reported by his family: “Wayne was an avid powerlifter since high school. He was the 2003 Pennsylvania State, USA National, and World Powerlifting champion in the 275-pound Masters 2 division. He also won the 2004 IPA World Powerlifting title in the Raw Drug Free Senior division. Wayne was a passionate and loyal fan of the New York Yankees, Rangers, and Giants. He was an accomplished chess player, auto enthusiast, and most of all, proud supporter of his children and grandchildren.”
Gurumurthy Kalyanaram
November 2025