Obituary of Richard Gordon

Richard L. Gordon, 80, an energy economist specializing in coal and electric power, of State College, died on Monday, December 1, 2014 at Mount Nittany Medical Center, State College. Dr. Gordon was Professor emeritus of Mineral Economics at The Pennsylvania State University and MISACU University Endowed Fellow emeritus. He retired in 1996. Born on June 19, 1934, in Portland, Maine, he was a son of the late Benjamin M. and Sara Israelson Gordon. He is survived by his wife, the former Nancy Ellen Helfand, whom he married in June 1958; his two sons, David William and his wife, Cathy, of Emerson, NJ and Benjamin Mark and his wife, Edith, of Seattle, WA; one brother, Allan F. Gordon and his wife, Betty, of Watertown, MA; four grandchildren, Sarah and Molli, daughters of David, and Aaron and Daniel, sons of Benjamin. Dr. Gordon began his work on energy economics with his 1960 Pd.D. thesis on coal policy in the European Coal and Steel Community. In 1970, this was transformed into his first book - The Evolution of Energy Policy in Western Europe: the Reluctant Retreat from Coal. The book expressed what was to prove a lifetime concern with the excesses of government intervention. He argued that the Western European coal industry had become uneconomic and that state aid would only expansively delay the inevitable need to close the industry. Such an expensive decline occurred. He wrote three other books on coal, one on electric power, one on energy economics, another on the defects of regulation, and most recently a review of the Microsoft antitrust case. He also wrote over 100 articles and monographs on energy, environmental issues, and public land policy. He participated in several government policy studies including the U. S. Commission on Fair Market Value Policy for Federal Coal Leasing of which he was a member in 1983-1984. During the 1970's he was a severe critic of the energy intervention in response to rising oil prices. His writings on coal stressed that it was attractive at most as an electric power fuel and criticized efforts both to increase direct use in other sectors and to produce synthetic fuels from coal. He later became a severe critic of public utility regulation and federal public land policies. He graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth in 1956 and received a Ph.D. degree in industrial economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. Upon graduation from MIT, he became an economic analyst with Union Carbide in New York City; in 1964, he became an assistant economist at the First National City Bank and later in 1964 joined the Penn State faculty as an assistant professor. He became professor of mineral economics in 1970 and retired with emeritus rank in 1996. At Penn State, he was the advisor to the completion of 48 masters and 24 Ph.D. students. Since 1996, he has been an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute and a frequent contributor to its magazine Regulation. From 1984 to 2011, he was book review editor of the Energy Journal published by the International Association for Energy Economics. He has been a member of the Journal's board of editors since its inception in 1980. He won The Pennsylvania State University, Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement (Social Sciences), 1989, Government of Venezuela, Decoration of Andres Bello (in grade of honor first class) for significant contributions to the field of energy economics and for high quality academic guidance to Venezuelan graduate students, 1989, the Outstanding Contribution to the Profession Award of the International Association for Energy Economics, 1992. Outstanding contribution to the Association Award of the International Association for Energy Economics, 2007, and Senior Fellow USAEE, 2012. He was a member of Congregation Brit Shalom in State College. He served on the Board of Penn State Hillel including two years as chairman and several as organizer of its faculty forum, and as chairman of the academic drive for the State College United Jewish Appeal. Funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m., on Thursday, December 4, 2014, at Koch Funeral Home, 2401 South Atherton Street, State College, with the Rabi David Ostrich officiating. Burial will be at Centre County memorial Park. Memorial contributions may be made to Penn State Hillel, 114-117 Pasquerilla Spiritual Center University Park, State College, PA 16802 or to Congregation Brit Shalom, 620 E Hamilton Ave, State College, PA 16801. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College. Online condolences and signing of the guest book may be entered at www.kochfuneralhome.com.