Zicklin Alum Funds Fellowship in Memory of Late Husband, a Zicklin Professor

Marilyn and Jean Boddewyn

Zicklin School of Business alumna Marilyn Boddewyn (BBA, ’80) has made a significant gift to the Zicklin School’s doctoral program to fund a fellowship for PhD students in international business. She did so in memory of her late husband, Jean J. Boddewyn, PhD, a professor of international business at the School of Business who died in 2022 at age 92.  

Dr. Boddewyn helped pioneer the study of international business as an academic discipline. Born in Belgium, he came to the U.S. in 1951 on a Fullbright scholarship, earning an MBA from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Washington. Upon graduation from the latter in 1964, he was recruited by New York University to create an international business major at a time when textbooks for the subject did not yet exist; he created his own course materials from relevant articles in international newspapers and magazines.  

In 1973, Boddewyn began teaching at Baruch College in the School of Business, where he created an international business major within the marketing department and helped establish the Weissman Center for International Business. He taught at the Zicklin School until his retirement in 2006.  

Boddewyn was among the original founders of the Association for Education in International Business and was also vice president (1975-1976) and later president (1992-1994) of the Academy of International Business. He was the founding editor of International Studies of Management & Organization. 

Mrs. Boddewyn retired several years ago as president of a talent search firm she created that recruited accountants for top New York businesses. She is also a portrait artist who created an oil painting of her husband (pictured).   

Categories: Alumni News, Faculty, News