Dr Maneck Wadia made a mark in both management and anthropology
Gul-Fraaz (Gulu) Ezekiel
Dr Maneck Sorabji Wadia (91), (pictured) who had a distinguished academic career over the 70 years he spent in the United States, passed away in Del Mar, California on April 2, 2023.
The sixth of seven children of Khan Bahadur Sorabji Rattanji and Manijeh Wadia (née Pocha), he was the younger brother of my late mother Khorshed Wadia Ezekiel.
Maneck was born in Bombay on October 22, 1931. At the age of 21 he went to Indiana University (IU), planning on one year of graduate school in America before returning to India. This plan changed quickly when he enrolled in a PhD program. In 1957 he met the love of his life, Harriet Schilit, on a blind date at IU. They were married in November 1962.
By 1958, Maneck had three degrees in hand (MA, PhD in Anthropology, MBA) and was ready to launch his academic career with an appointment at the IU faculty. A Ford Foundation Fellowship took him to the University of Pittsburgh in 1960 and then he was off to Stanford University to hold a faculty appointment in the School of Business where he also taught in the School of Anthropology. A scholar of management and human behavior, his publications ranged from culture to religion to leadership and across the many aspects of the behavioral sciences. After completing his postgraduate studies in anthropology and management, Maneck expanded this work in acculturation to organizational behavior.
Maneck and Harriet moved to the small beach town of Del Mar in 1965 where he established Wadia Associates. As a management consultant he lectured to over 10,000 executives and advised over 100 organizations, including all branches of the US armed forces, law enforcement agencies and many Fortune 500 companies. By accident or by choice, he was a pioneer in many respects. Long before interdisciplinary scholarship was encouraged, he combined degrees in anthropology with the field of management. This enabled him to incorporate behavioral sciences into the field of management, which eventually morphed into organizational culture and leadership studies.
His philanthropy focused on education and opportunity and included gifts to IU, University of California San Diego, the San Diego Symphony (where he was a board member for over two years), various medical institutions, charities in India, India House, Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship Fund and the Bishop’s School Summer Faculty Fund.
Proud of his Indian heritage, Maneck made numerous trips back home with his family. He was involved in community affairs in Del Mar and socially active with the Parsi Zoroastrian community in California and across the US.
Maneck is survived by his wife Harriet, children Prof Sara Wadia Fascetti and Mark Wadia, son-in-law Michael Fascetti, grandchildren Ava and Jonathan Fascetti and nephews and nieces around the world. His sole surviving sibling, Prof Pheroze S. Wadia (93) of Weehawken, New Jersey, is Professor Emeritus, Philosophy Department, Rutgers University.
A devoted son, husband, father and grandfather, Maneck was dearly loved by all who knew him and will be sorely missed.