Markham, Jesse W. (Jesse William) (1916-2009)

Dates

• Existence: 1916 - 2009

Biography

Jesse William Markham was born on April 16, 1916 in Sharps, Virginia. He attended the University of Richmond and earned a degree in economics in 1941. He began a graduate degree in economics at John Hopkins University in 1942. Markham deferred finishing his degree to enlist in the U.S. Navy. He served for three years on the USS Augusta and saw action in the Atlantic theater during the invasion of Normandy. Upon his return, Markham finished his master’s degree in 1947 and a Ph.D. of economics in 1949 both at Harvard University.

Markham’s first faculty position was at Vanderbilt University. He worked as an associate professor from 1948 to 1952. In 1953 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked Markham to serve as their chief economist. He served the FTC for two years under the Eisenhower administration. After leaving in 1955, Markham took a professorship at Princeton University. He taught there for the next ten years while also teaching at the Harvard Business School (HBS) as a visiting professor. In 1958 Markham also served as an economic delegate for the European Common Market, now called the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He briefly returned to the FTC as a Commissioner for one year in 1974.

Markham joined the HBS faculty in 1968 as the Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration. His first teaching assignment was in the Advanced Management Program (AMP). He also taught an elective course, Marketing and Public Policy. From 1978 to 1982 he served as the head of Creative Marketing Strategies. Markham retired from the active faculty that year as a Professor Emeritus, but taught for two more years at Emory University at the Carter Center and at the Harvard Extension School. HBS honored Markham with a Distinguished Service Award in 1994.

During his career, Markham wrote 12 scholarly books and over 150 articles. His worked focused on price theory, industrial organization, and antitrust policy. Jesse Markham died June 21, 2009 in Nashua, New Hampshire at age 93.

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