Fred Dorner
Former professor at Trinity’s School of Business, died on Monday, July 23

Fred Dorner, former professor at Trinity’s School of Business, died on Monday, July 23, 2018. He was 74.

Dorner, who specialized in statistics and operation research or quantitative methods, is fondly remembered by his co-workers as a quiet, reflective colleague who rarely spoke at department meetings, but when he did, he made succinct and valuable contributions. He is also remembered for being a dedicated teacher.

“Fred had a very keen and entertaining sense of humor,” explains Richard Burr, retired finance and decision sciences professor, and Dorner’s friend of 35 years. “It was a pleasure for me to have Fred include me as a close friend. I always admired his independence and his excellent mind,” says Burr.

"I always admired Fred for being a critical and independent thinker who was not swayed by majority opinions or politics,” recalls Rita Kosnik, professor of business administration. “What I remember vividly was his deep and infectious laugh - he had a great sense of humor and was a great story teller.” 

Former student Lisa Cornell remembered studying under Dorner. “I was very intimidated to take statistics in 2001 as a junior, but Dr. Dorner had a gift at breaking it down and making it understandable and not so daunting, which I think benefited thousands of students over his time at Trinity.”

Patricia Dorner, his former wife and friend shared this anecdote: “Fred had a significant teaching style in that he spent hours grading exams, laboriously going through each problem because he was not so much interested in whether his students had their math problems right, but rather whether they understood the concept he was teaching them.”

Dorner was a loving father to daughters Katherine Dorner Hathaway and Jennifer Dorner, and cherished grandfather to Jacob Randell Hathaway II. He had a passion for building cars, most specifically Jaguars, which were his absolute favorite. A jack of all trades, he loved being outdoors and was the man who could fix anything. Donations may be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in memory of Fred Dorner.   

For 150 years, Trinity University has transformed challenge into boundless opportunity. Join the force in motion at www.trinity.edu.

You might be interested in