In Memoriam David A. Kendrick (1937-2024)
Our lifetime friend David Kendrick, born on November 14, 1937, in Gatesville, Texas, embarked on a remarkable journey that touched the hearts and minds of many in our community. With profound sadness, we bid farewell to a beloved husband, father, friend, and esteemed scholar who left an unforgettable mark on our lives. David passed away on April 7th, 2024 at the age of 86 in his hometown Austin.
At the beginning of his career, David considered going into politics as he had been working as an assistant to Texas congressman W. R. Poage. Fortunately, for our community, David was more intrigued by science and felt less suited for a political career. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, David left Texas to pursue a Ph.D. at MIT (1966) that laid the groundwork for his later research interests in Sectoral Economics and Planning and Optimal Control/optimization problems, common in engineering. After finishing his Ph.D. he started working as an assistant professor at Harvard. (1966-1970).
Homeward-bound, David returned to his roots at the University of Texas as the Ralph W. Yarborough Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts in the early Seventies, where he began his groundbreaking research in stochastic control in (macro) economics. His passion for economic dynamics and control problems led him to serve as the founding editor of the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, He took great care in establishing the standing of the JEDC in the economics and engineering community. Under his editorial leadership JEDC attracted the attention of economists as well as engineers keen to contribute to the advancement of economic dynamics and the computational methods required to achieve this. In 2002 the JEDC published a special issue honoring David’s work with contributions of many well known economists. 1
