Smeal College Supply Chain & Information Systems Faculty Member Dies

Smeal College Supply Chain & Information Systems Faculty Member Dies

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- Anthony Verstraete, faculty member in the Supply Chain and Information Systems Department in the Smeal College of Business, died suddenly on July 16, 2003, at the Hershey Medical Center at the age of 60. During his 23-year career with the college, Verstraete taught more than 10,000 students.

"Tony was a wonderful colleague and mentor to our students," said Smeal Dean Judy Olian. "He brought a deep passion to the job that will be missed by all worked with him, and learned from him."

A member of the Smeal faculty since 1980, Verstraete developed many new courses during his tenure covering systems analysis, database management, data communications, decision support, and expert systems.

For almost 20 years, Verstraete served as faculty advisor to Penn State's Business and Society Interest House (BASH), a residence hall dedicated to business students. He spent most of his years in the college's Department of Management Science and Information Systems, which was recently merged into the new Supply Chain Department. Verstraete also supervised more than 10 honors theses since the founding of Penn State's Schreyer Honors College in 1997.

In the Centre Daily Times obituary about Verstraete, his son, Sun Ray, wrote: "If you knew him, please think of him often, and if you did not, just know that there is a small hole in the big world that once was him."

Verstraete, who held B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from Penn State, was an avid guitar player, gardener, and photographer. He is survived by a son, daughter, and grandson.

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