Santa Clara University

Tyzoon Tyebjee : 1945 - 2008

A great friend and colleague in the Leavey School of Business, Tyzoon Tyebjee lost an extended battle with pulmonary fibrosis on Wednesday, April 9.

Tyzoon has been a professor of marketing at Santa Clara University for the past 30 years. He was much beloved by his faculty colleagues, his students -- both graduate and undergraduate, and many friends and family.

Tyzoon also served as faculty director of the ACE Program, which invites high potential students to participate in a select leadership program over their four years in the Business School.

In addition, he returned to service as International Business Director in 2005, a position he held from 1981 to 1985. In that role, he worked with business students to identify course work, internship, and study abroad opportunities to broaden their capabilities as global leaders.

He published more than 40 articles in leading trade and scholarly periodicals including the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology. His scholarship focused on consumer behavior, early adoption of technology, and new product development.

Born November 2, 1945 in Bombay, India, he received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1967. Tyzoon immigrated to America for his master's degree in chemical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also completed an MBA ('72) and a Ph.D. ('76) in marketing from UC Berkeley.

An avid traveler, river-rafter, bridge player, and raconteur, Tyzoon made many friends around the world. He is survived by his wife Joyce; daughter, Zia; and son, Saleh; as well as his brother Tamim in Bombay; sister, Taima in Toronto and an extended but close family around the world. A private memorial gathering was held Saturday, April 12.