Paul Martin O'Leary was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 economist

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

 and educator, and the first Dean of the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management

S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management

The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1946 and renamed in 1984 after Samuel Curtis Johnson, founder of S.C...

. He served on the faculty of Cornell University from 1924 until 1967, taking several leaves to join other economists from Eastern universities in Franklin D. Roosevelt's brain trust.

Early life and family

He was spouse to Harriet Barton O'Leary, daughter to Colonel Frank Barton for whom Barton Hall

Barton Hall

Barton Hall is an on-campus field house on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is the site of the school's indoor track facilities, ROTC offices and classes, and Cornell Police. It's also the location of the band room, used by the Cornell Big Red Marching Band and the Cornell...

 is named. Whenever on campus, he was quick to volunteer for activities that brought him in contact with undergraduates students, first as time-keeper and assistant coach for the Cornell Track & Field Team and later a proponent for Track & Field as a faculty member of the university's committee on athletics.

Career

During the Depression he was an aide to the consumer advisory board of the National Recovery Administration and later was chief economic analyst for the Commerce Department. He oversaw the rationing program as the deputy chief of the Office of Price Administration in the early years of World War II. Mr. O'Leary returned to Cornell, and in 1946 served as the first dean of its newly formed business school. In 1951, he became dean of the college of arts and sciences. The Century Foundation asked him to chair the seven person Committee on Anti-Trust Policy in 1953. In 1957, he returned to teaching and research in his specialty, American financial history.

Associations

Professor O'Leary was tapped in the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at the University of Kansas, and maintained the affiliation at Cornell.