(Juran Institute: Southbury, Connecticut) -- Joseph M. Juran, Ph.D., noted author and a founder of modern quality management, died on February 28 from natural causes.

“Dr. Juran recently told me that he wanted everyone to know he had a wonderful life and hoped that his contributions to improving the quality of our society will be remembered,” says Joseph De Feo, a 20-year employee and Juran Institute’s CEO. “Although Dr. Juran had been retired from the Institute since 1995, he remained chairman emeritus and ensured that we could carry on his mission to improve the quality of our society. He was even still working hard at completing another textbook and caring for himself and his wife of 81 years, Sadie, when he passed away.”

Juran’s major contribution to society was in the field of quality management. Often referred to as “The Father of Quality,” he is recognized as the person who added the managerial dimension to quality, broadening it from its statistical origins.

In 1937, Juran articulated the Pareto Principle, which millions of managers rely on to help separate the “vital few” from the “useful many” in their activities. In 1951 his Quality Control Handbook (McGraw-Hill, revised 1988), the first standard reference work on quality management, was published.

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