Former Wharton School dean Russell E. Palmer Jr. HOM83, 90, passed away on June 14. Russell became Wharton’s dean in 1983, after a decade as managing partner and CEO of Touche Ross & Co., now Deloitte. Under seven years of his leadership, Wharton developed an extensive program of internationalization, entered the field of executive education with the establishment of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education and the Steinberg Conference Center, created three major research centers, and laid the groundwork for a far-reaching restructuring of the MBA curriculum. Russell left Wharton in 1990 to start his own private equity firm, the Palmer Group. He served on Penn’s board of trustees from 1991 to 2001. From 1999 to 2002, he was also chair of the trustee board of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Health System trustee board executive committee, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center trustee board. Russell is survived by his wife, Wendy; children Bradley WG88, Stephen, Russell III, and Karen C90; 16 grandchildren; and his former wife, Phyllis.
