Memorial to Dr. Jack Elzinga

D. Jack Elzinga, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) at the University of Florida (UF), passed away on August 23, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla., at the age of 83.

Dr. Elzinga received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Washington in 1960 and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Northwestern University in 1968. From 1961-1963, he was a member of the inaugural group of Peace Corps volunteers (Colombia 1), working on rural community development in Colombia, South America. Dr. Elzinga joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in 1967, where he held appointments in various departments over the next 12 years.

From 1979-1997, he was chair of ISE at UF. In 1996, he founded the Outreach Engineering Management (OEM) Program, an off-campus, weekend-based master’s program for working professionals that is still thriving today and boasts nearly 1,000 alumni. Dr. Elzinga held the position of OEM Director until 2005, retiring from UF in 2007. He taught industrial engineering at Ceram University in Antibes, France, for several years on a part-time basis and also managed a reciprocal exchange program with SKEMA Business School in Sophia Antipolis, France.

Dr. Elzinga’s research specialties were operations research, multicriterion decision making, engineering management, and business process management. He played a substantial role in the development and history of the ISE department, and we are deeply indebted to him for his many contributions. He will be sorely missed by his family, colleagues, former students, and countless friends.

To view his complete obituary, please visit https://www.gainesville.com/obituaries/pgai0286914.

By Patsy Messinger
ISE OEM Program Associate Director