DRUCKER, PETER F(ERDINAND)

born Nov. 19, 1909, Vienna Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author whose conservative writings provided much of the philosophical and practical underpinning for the modern business corporation. Drucker received a doctoral degree in law at the University of Frankfurt and worked as a journalist in Germany before fleeing to England in 1933 after the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. He worked in England until 1937, when he moved to the United States as an adviser to British banks doing business there and as a foreign correspondent for several British newspapers. A naturalized American citizen, Drucker was a professor of management at New York University from 1950 to 1972 and is credited with playing a leading role in the development of management education. Some observers divide Drucker's numerous books and articles into four categories. His early workssuch as The End of Economic Man (1939) and The New Society (1950)discuss the nature of industrial society. A second line of booksincluding The Concept of the Corporation (1946) and The Practice of Management (1954)explain general ideas about modern business management. A third, later body of workincluding America's Next Twenty Years (1957) and Technology, Management and Society (1970)offers speculation on the future impact of such developments as technological change. Finally, there are writings that address questions of practical corporate management, notably Managing in Turbulent Times (1980) and The Changing World of the Executive (1982; a collection of essays). Drucker also wrote two novels.