By Ed Freeman

Richard Nielsen was a gentle spirit and he will be missed by many people. As I was writing this a colleague who knew him came by and I broke the news to him that Richard had passed. My colleague went on and on about how Richard was so kind and gentle and caring. Another colleague said to me that Richard was always thinking of the people who were not in power, the “every person” that is often forgotten in business ethics.

Richard was a mentor and role model for many of us. I met him in the 1980s when I didn’t know much about SBE or SIM. He was so helpful and so genuine in showing me the ropes. I remember a conversation I had with him as I was going to Indonesia to teach for the first time. Richard took me aside and told me that Indonesians are more comfortable with silence than typical Americans. That small piece of advice really saved me numerous times over the years I taught there.

Richard’s work on corruption, praxis, conflict resolution, and peaceful change stands as testimony to his character. His ability to voice what many are hesitant to say, and to apply his substantial critical thinking ability to business ethics is iconic for how we should conduct ourselves. Richard was a practitioner of Chris Argyris’s idea of action learning. He embodied the Socratic dictum that an unexamined life is not worth living. And he lived his life as if ethics matters; that ethics should be about how we are going to live.

Richard used his whole life to fight against corruption whether it was in companies, universities or governments all over the world. It pervaded his life personally and professionally. His passing creates a void in our field that I am certain he would want each of us to do our best to fill.