Jan Edelman Bos was known for ground-breaking research into, among other things, development co-operation, Rotterdam’s municipal politics, modernisation of the municipal police, and co-partnerships in higher education.
Having studied behavioural sciences, he started as a management consultant in Amsterdam in 1951. At that time, he was also involved in post-academic education at the Interuniversity Centre for Organisation and Change Science (Sioo)and at the Business Policy Study Centre Foundation (Berg en Dal), where the first management courses were given for senior managers.
As a management consultant, Edelman Bos worked at Bosboom & Hegener, where he rose to chairman of the board of directors. He was also chairman of the Order of Organisational Scientists and Advisors (Ooa), a Dutch professional organisation for organisational consultants.
From 1979 he was professor of business administration at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), and was appointed board member of the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation (NOS - Nederlandse Omroep Stichting) in 1982, succeeding Prof. Jan Kreiken. With the establishment of RSM as the business school at Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1970, he moved to Rotterdam, where he served as professor of accountancy until 1990. Prof. Edelman Bos held a rare combination of chairs at both Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and the medical faculty Erasmus MC.
The memorial service took place on Thursday 7 March 2024. On behalf of the RSM community, we send condolences to Jan Edelman Bos’ family and friends, and our warmest gratitude to his contributions to help RSM grow.