Class Notes
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Read StoryIn Memoriam
David P. Norton ’62, Business Management Pioneer and WPI Luminary
David P. Norton, an emeritus trustee and one of the world’s leading authorities on strategic performance management, died Dec. 6, 2023, of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 82. With Robert Kaplan, Norton created the Balanced Scorecard, a strategic planning and management systems that is credited with improving the performance of businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits around the world. Designed to transform the way managers and executives develop an organization’s vision and strategy and measure its performance, the Balanced Scorecard was named in 1997 one of the most influential management ideas of the previous 75 years by the Harvard Business Review. In 2013, Norton and Kaplan were named to the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, which honors “the leading business and management ideas of our age.”
David Norton ’62
In addition to a BS in electrical engineering from WPI, Norton received a master’s in operations research from Florida Institute of Technology, an MBA from Florida State University, and a doctorate in business from Harvard Business School. He was co-founder and director of several professional services firms focused on strategic management, including the Palladium Group. He also co-founded Nolan, Norton & Company, which was acquired by KPMG Peat Marwick. With Norton, he was the author of five books and eight Harvard Business Review articles on using the Balanced Scorecard. The books have sold more than a million copies and been translated into 23 languages.
Norton was a member of WPI’s Board of Trustees from 1990 to 2000. The university honored him with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, named him the 2012 Innovator of the Year, and inducted him as part of the inaugural class into the WPI Hall of Luminaries.
Norton leaves Melissa, his wife of 60 years, three daughters, nine grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
William Julian ’49 CE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Midlothian, Va.
Richard Goldman ’55 EE, ALPHA EPSILON PI, Mountain View, Calif.
Birino D’Ambrosio, ’58 MS, PhD CHE, Wilmington, Del.
Gordon Sigman ’59 ME, PHI SIGMA KAPPA, Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Donald Sieurin ’60 SIM, South Yarmouth, Mass.
Bruce Willbrant ’60 CE, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Audubon, Pa.
Thomas Pantages ’61 PH, SIGMA PHI EPSILON, Marlborough, Mass.
Robert Cunningham ’62, MNS, Medford, Mass.
Victor Dufault ’62 CE, Groton, Conn.
Stanley Szymanski ’64 CHE, PHI KAPPA THETA, Youngstown, N.Y.
W. Zisch ’64 EE, Chelmsford, Mass.
James Pierce ’65 CH, East Sandwich, Mass.
George Wing ’68 MS NS, Marlborough, Mass.
Mildred Marengo ’70 MNS, Chicopee, Mass.
Frances Dupont ’72 MS NS, Auburn, Mass.
Royce Brainard ’73 EE, South Windsor, Conn.
Donald Salerno ’73 CHE, THETA CHI, Sutton, Mass.
Thomas Savage ’73 CHE, SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON, Evergreen, Colo.
Andrew Wemple ’74 MA, ALPHA CHI RHO, Southbridge, Mass.
Carl Harris ’75 SIM, Rutland, Mass.
James McKeown ’79 SIM, Centennial, Colo.
Robert Hawkins ’81 EE, Bacliff, Texas
Michael O’Brien ’84 CHE, SIGMA PI, Holyoke, Mass.
Christopher Stakutis ’84 CS, East Walpole, Mass.
William Metevia ’86 MS MG, Westminster, Mass.
James Daley ’89 ME, Boston, Mass.
Michael Madara ’89 CHE, ZETA PSI, West Lawn, Pa.
Quentin Rissler ’92 CE, Denver, Pa.
Donald McNamara ’98 CS, Brookline, Mass.
Caitlin Kuhlman ’17 MS, PhD CS, Boston, Mass.
Complete obituaries can usually be found online by searching legacy.com or newspaper websites. The Alumni Office will assist classmates in locating additional information. Contact alumni-office@wpi.edu.