Martha’s Vineyard News | Dr. Giulio Pontecorvo, 98 – The Vineyard Gazette – Martha’s Vineyard News
Dr. Giulio Pontecorvo Jr. died on Sept. 26, 2021 at his home in Manhattan. He was 98.
He had been a professor of economics who taught at Columbia University for four decades and served as an advisor to the U.S. and foreign governments, including the United Nation’s food and agriculture organization, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Law of the Sea Institute, and the U.S. State Department.
He was born on July 24, 1923 to Giulio Pontecorvo Sr., an Italian immigrant, and Sarah Dorothy Scott, in Little Falls, N.J.
His attendance at Dartmouth College was interrupted by his volunteer service in World War II, where he served as a combat engineer in the Trailblazer’s 70th Division. He saw action against the German defense of Saarbrucken and the invasion of Germany that marked the end of the war.
After returning to Dartmouth, he completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees in economics. He married the love of his life Margaret Thatcher, who he had met during basic training in Bend, Ore. He was awarded a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1956.
He served as an assistant professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Me., and was appointed full professor at Columbia in 1968. He was named professor emeritus in 1994.
At Bowdoin College, began to focus on the economics of fishing. It was also where service as an advisor teacher and mentor began to emerge as the central theme of his life.
In 1964 he was invited to the University of Buenos Aires as a guest lecturer to advise on Argentina’s fishing industry, followed by an evaluation of anchovy production in Peru and as a Fulbright guest lecturer at the University of Bergen in Norway in 1967. That lead to appointments to many advisory positions for governmental agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Law of the Sea, International Marine Science Affairs Policy Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S. State Department for Law of the Sea negotiations and numerous others.
His contributions to the public sector complimented his work as a professor at Columbia’s Graduate Business School. He excelled as a teacher and mentor, and was appreciated for his support, encouragement, and providing a worthy example.
Dr. Pontecorvo published countless academic books, articles, studies and reports. Although none made the best seller list, they were highly regarded in academic circles. He found time to support his local community library, where he was responsible for a new library building in New City, N.Y., and a four-fold increase in the library budget
He and his wife Margaret first brought their family to Chilmark for a month in the mid-1960s. It quickly became a family tradition that was followed soon after by building a house in Aquinnah. Summers on the Vineyard have become a treasured family experience now being passed down to younger generations.
Margaret survived him but died on July 8. He is survived by four sons — Michael, Guy, Anthony and Andrew — and their families.
He and Margaret will be interred together in the Aquinnah cemetery on Saturday, August 6 at 2 p.m.
Memorial donations can be sent to Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Donations, c/o Barbara Spain, 20 Black Brook Road, Aquinnah, MA 02535-1546.