Celebrating the Life of Rino J. Patti (1936–2021): Commentaries by Colleagues Who Deeply Valued His Contributions

Abstract

Remembering Rino It was with much sadness that we learned of the passing of Rino J. Patti on September 16, 2021, at the age of 85. Rino founded this journal with Si Slavin in 1977 and served as Associate Editor and then Editor after Si stepped aside. Rino’s journal leadership reflects over 25 years of service to the professional practice of administration in the human services. Rino began his academic career at the University of Washington School of Social Work in 1967 where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Social Welfare Research while also leading the curriculum concentration related to macro-social work practice. His 21-year career at the University of Washington was followed by 9 years of service as Dean of the University of Southern California School of Social Work. In 1997, he became the Driscoll-Clevenger Professor of Social Policy and Administration until he retired in 2001. From 1991 to 1993, he also served as the president of the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work (1991–1993) and was the first board president of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (1993–1995). He was inducted as part of the inaugural class of Fellows at the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare in 2010. Among his many awards are the: NASW Presidential Award for the Advancement of Research (1996); Career Achievement Award from the Association for Community Organization and Administration (2003); and USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award (2006). Rino provided significant intellectual leadership by framing the research, curricular, and practice domains of administration and social policy throughout his career. In addition to mentoring many students who became professors and administrators throughout the country, his leadership reflected a caring, supportive, and accessible style that endeared him to all who had the opportunity to work with him. He also spent many hours as a journal editor helping young scholars improve their scholarship by providing extensive and detailed feedback on various manuscript submissions. He cared deeply about the next generation of scholars and demonstrated his compassion as educator, collaborator, and dean. In addition to his considerable contributions to the research literature on social work administration in the form of numerous articles, he was also known for his pioneering books. These include: Resnick, H. & Patti, R. (Eds) (1980). Change from within: Humanizing social welfare organizations. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Patti, R. (1983). Social welfare administration. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Patti, R. (2001). Handbook of social welfare management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Patti, R., Poertner, J. & Rapp, C. (eds.) (1989). Managing for service effectiveness in social welfare. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. Patti, R. (2009). Handbook of human services management, 2 ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. While colleagues knew Rino’s public persona as one of the major thought leaders in social work administration, his personal side was less visible, except for those of us who knew him over the second half of his 85 years. He was deeply devoted to his wife, Nadine, and their children, Chris and Laura. Rino gave me one of the most valuable gifts that I have ever received in my career. The gift serves as an illustration of his “mensch” persona (a rare person of integrity and honor, often someone to be admired for both a sense of dignity and a sense of what is right). As an example of his considerable tact HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS: MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE 2022, VOL. 46, NO. 2, 111–124 https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2022.2043976