Organizations and Markets

Tragedy in Athens, Georgia

26 April 2009 at 12:13 am Peter G. Klein 1 comment

| Peter Klein |

You may have heard about George Zinkhan, a University of Georgia marketing professor who reportedly shot to death his wife and two others this afternoon before fleeing the scene. As of this writing he remains on the loose and is considered armed and dangerous. A nationwide manhunt is supposedly under way. (Here’s the Google News feed.)

I was Zinkhan’s colleague at UGA’s Terry College of Business from 1995 to 2002 and knew him casually. We had lunch together on occasion and played basketball together in a faculty/staff league. I didn’t know much about his personal life, only that he had two young children (I think from a second marriage). He was head of the Marketing department when I was there and was, by all accounts, a productive scholar and an effective teacher.

What a surreal experience to see pictures of SWAT teams assembled outside Brooks Hall — apparently staked out in case Zinkhan went there after the shootings, which occurred off campus — where I had my office and taught most of my classes.

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