Past Awards
Dr. Garber’s record of substantial contributions to the field of Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and to its professional societies, is remarkable, extending over a period of forty years. He earned a BS degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and SM and ScD degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT he became aware of Operations Research, edited notes from the first summer course in OR, wrote his thesis on queuing, and was an early member of the MIT Operations Research Center. He joined the RCA Corporation to build its pioneering company-wide Operations Research function; ultimately he became Director of Operations Research. Thirty years later, he joined Merrill Lynch to found and lead its first comprehensive Operations Research activity. The OR group’s profound impact on the organization was widely recognized by the 1997 INFORMS Prize and the 2001 Franz Edelman Award. Upon retiring from Merrill Lynch as First Vice President and Director of the Management Science Group, Dr. Garber founded a consulting service, Garber Associates.
Dr. Garber has been, and continues to be, influential in voicing the value of Operations Research to the public and the importance of practice to our professional community. In this endeavor, he worked steadfastly to establish and sustain a public relations program, focused in the Public Information Committee of TIMS (which he chaired for several years), now a committee of INFORMS.
He was instrumental in creating one of the INFORMS crown jewels, the annual Franz Edelman competition highlighting successful practice. He helped develop the competition’s broad international reach, and helped provide archived records by means of videotapes and Interfaces papers. Beginning with the first competition in 1972, Dr. Garber has been a judge in all but three Edelman events. Dr. Garber also played a central role in upgrading Interfaces from an informal publication into a highly respected journal. In addition, he was responsible for widening the international reach of TIMS, continued by INFORMS, through an increase from one to two international meetings every three years.
Over the decades he served on numerous committees and task forces of TIMS, ORSA, joint TIMS-ORSA, and INFORMS. He was on the founding committee for the Roundtable. He has long been a driving force in CPMS: the Practice Section of INFORMS; he participated in most committees and held the offices of Secretary, Vice President, and President. In 1982 he was elected President-elect of TIMS, serving as President of TIMS in 1983-84.
For Newton Garber’s dedication and distinguished service to the profession and the Society, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences expresses its profound appreciation by awarding him the 2001 George E. Kimball Medal.
Awards presented by Randy Robinson, Committee Member, and James Bean, President, November 6, 2001.