Remembering Allan Rosenbaum

The American Society for Public Administration remembers Immediate Past President Allan Rosenbaum, who passed away March 17, following a brief illness. Allan most recently served as ASPA’s president in 2021-2023, and before that in 2014-2015.

Allan’s contributions to the discipline and profession of public administration were significant and his accomplishments many. It was the rare ASPA member who did not, in some meaningful way, engage with Allan throughout his 45-plus-year association in our Society. His committed leadership spanned geographic boundaries—from the local, where he was a longtime board member and president of ASPA’s South Florida Chapter, to the international, where he served multiple terms as ASPA’s international director. And, his commitment to the next generation of academic and public service leaders extended well beyond the classroom and into ASPA programming, where he was a longtime contributor and mentor in our flagship Founders’ Fellows program, Young Scholars Workshop and student and young professional programs.

In each of these roles, Allan was the consummate ambassador for ASPA and so ably represented the constituencies he served. In all of the roles, however, he also challenged our organization to more effectively recognize the roles we must play in protecting democracy. Deeply committed to the founding principles of public administration and civil society, he believed strongly that government cannot operate effectively or provide efficient public administration without democratic norms and institutions. Against the backdrop of political and economic turmoil here and abroad, advancing democratic ideals became the cornerstone of his 2021-2023 presidential term. It also was the focus of the final presidential column he wrote one year ago.

Allan spent much of his academic career at Florida International University, most recently as university distinguished professor, and previously as dean of the Steven J. Green School of Public Affairs and director of the Institute for Public Management and Community Service and the Center for Democracy and Good Governance. He also held several local, state and federal government positions, served on the faculties of the Universities of Maryland, Connecticut and Wisconsin and held a research position at the University of Chicago.

For many, it is his international work for which Allan will be most remembered as he pushed us to see the world through new perspectives. A former member and vice chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration, last year he began to chair a UN task force looking to strengthen public administration education internationally. He led projects for USAID, the World Bank, Swedish International Development Agency and governments around the globe. Understanding the role and responsibility of professional associations in this space, his leadership or participation in such organizations as IASIA, IIAS, NISPAcee and NASPAA earned him recognitions too numerous to list here.

Allan also was a loyal friend and mentor. I and countless others benefited from his wisdom as an administrator and scholar and his steadfast devotion to advancing the theory and practice of public administration here and abroad. Allan was selfless in writing external review letters, letters of recommendation or lending an ear and giving advice about the vexing issues we often encounter in any leadership role at universities. He also believed in providing opportunities for budding academics. It was Allan who, early in my career, gave me opportunities to engage in international discourse by opening the doors to be part of the creation of organizations like INPAE, dedicated to advancing public administration education in Latin America, and comparative research groups, workshops and conferences to support public administration practice in Latin America and Europe. I remember fondly observing how equally comfortable Allan was speaking in the United States as he was in France or Venezuela. It is remarkable that someone who only spoke English made so many friends and accomplished so much in many non-English speaking countries.

Allan was deeply committed to his family, most especially his wife Judy, who has become as much a welcome fixture in ASPA as Allan was. They cherished their daughters and grandchildren. Any listener to Allan’s descriptions of his family’s travels and accomplishments knew that parent and grandparent were the roles of which he was most proud.

A celebration of life is scheduled for next month in Miami; we will share more details as they become available. We also will recognize Allan’s contributions to ASPA at our upcoming annual conference in Minneapolis. Members who wish to leave a message for Allan’s family may do so by writing [email protected]; we will be sure to forward them.