Timothy J. Gilbride, the Steve and Anne Odland associate professor of marketing, died at 52 from cancer on Jan. 12, the University announced in a news release Monday.
“Tim is a role model and an inspiration for all Notre Dame faculty,” marketing department chair Shankar Ganesan said in the release. “He was an excellent researcher, an award-winning teacher, mentor to students and faculty, a friend to many and, above all, a truly outstanding departmental citizen and colleague. To wit, after recent brain surgery, he was in his office working and preparing for the next week’s class. This was typical Tim. I was in total admiration and respect for his passion and dedication to students and teaching. I will miss Tim dearly.”
Prior to arriving at Notre Dame in 2004, Gilbride studied economics at University of Dayton and received his MBA at Ohio State University. He earned his Ph.D. in business administration at Ohio State after working as a marketing researcher and consultant at Goodyear, Booz Allen Hamilton and Aetna, the release said.
Gilbride’s research applied Bayesian statistics to “assist researchers and managers to better understand consumer preferences and to make decisions under uncertainty,” the release said. He also taught classes in undergraduate and graduate marketing research.
“Tim was a patriot, a triple-threat inspiration whose dedication to teaching, research and service helped us build a scholarly community as humane as it is intellectual,” marketing professor John Sherry Jr. said in the release. “He embodied all the virtues we hope to instill in the sons and daughters of Notre Dame. A thoughtful, interesting and down-to-earth guy, Tim’s reassuring presence will be missed by us all.”
Gilbride received the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching as well as the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award for the Traditional MBA Program. He was also recognized in Poets & Quants’ 2018 “Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors,” the release said.
In 2014, he wrote an essay addressing his cancer diagnosis titled “The Mathematics of Hope” for Mendoza Business magazine.
“I admired Tim as a conscientious colleague, brilliant scholar, superb teacher and a fine, fine human being,” said marketing strategy professor William Wilkie in the release. “His presence at Notre Dame elevated us in the field, yet he was always ready to pitch in with sage insights. And when I passed by his open office door, I’d regularly see him tutoring a student over the quantitative mysteries at hand. He will be missed.”
Gilbride is survived by his wife and three children.
A burial Mass will be held 10:30 a.m. Jan. 16 at St. Pius X Catholic Church.
Memorial donations may be made to the St. Vincent DePaul Society at St. Pius X. Condolences may be left online at McGannHay.
