Terry Deal (1939-2024)

I learned from Terry Deal’s wife Sandy that he died of an apparent heart attack early on the morning of June 4, 2024.  I’ve lost a best friend.

Terry grew up in Laverne, California, attended Laverne College (now Laverne University), and worked for a while as a police officer in his home town before getting a master’s degree in education.  He became a teacher, a coach and eventually the principal of an experimental high school in San Francisco back in the  ’60s.  Then he went to Stanford to pick up a Ph.D. in education and sociology.  From there, he came to the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he and I taught together for five years and became friends for life.  

Terry eventually moved on to Vanderbilt University before he and Sandy returned to their native California, settling in San Luis Obispo.  Terry was the author of almost 40 books, some with me, and many with other collaborators.  One of the best known was Corporate Cultures, written with Allan Kennedy, the book which first broke the news that organizations have cultures, and those cultures matter.  

Terry and I last talked a couple of days before his death about taking on one more revision of our book, Reframing Organizations.  Terry was excited about the prospect, and I was delighted that he was so enthusiastic.  

He and I were friends and co-authors for almost half a century—we taught together, fought together, wrote together, and loved one another’s company.  So the loss is huge.  Words from Paul Simon have echoed in my mind for days after I got the news: “Losing love is like a window in your heart.  Everybody knows you’re blown apart.”  Blown apart is how I’ve felt.   

But life goes on, and I need to get to work on the 8th edition of Reframing.  It will be a tribute to Terry.    

Lee