STANFORD, CA - Gerald A. Dorfman, emeritus senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor (by courtesy) of political science at Stanford University, passed away at the age of 81 on March 15, 2021. In a career spanning fifty years, Dorfman was an authority on British and European politics, including the European Union. He had also served as associate director for research at the Hoover Institution and had an interest in US foreign policy and international relations.
Condoleezza Rice, director of the Hoover Institution said, “Jerry achieved prominence as an expert on British and European comparative politics, served his country at the State Department’s Agency for International Development and was a popular professor with Stanford students. On behalf of his Hoover colleagues, I extend our deepest sympathies to his family during this difficult time.”
In addition to serving in the Agency for International Development, Dorfman was a professor of political science at Iowa State University, a visiting professor at the University of California–Berkeley, and a distinguished visiting professor at San Jose State University.
Dorfman was a member of the executive committee of the British Politics Group, as well as cofounder and editor of its newsletter. He was also cofounder and publisher of the journals Educational Policy: Political Methodology and Politics and Society. He gave many presentations to organizations and at conferences on subjects including British politics, European and comparative politics, and American foreign policy.
At the Hoover Institution, in addition to his role as associate director, Dorfman was curator of the Paul and Jean Hanna Archival Collection on the Role of Education, editor of the Institution's International Studies Working Paper series, and chair of the search committee for the Institution’s director. He was also president of Geron-X, publishers of social science and scientific journals.
Dorfman authored several books, including the following: British Trade Unionism against the Trade Union Congress (Macmillan and Hoover Institution Press, 1983); Government versus Trade Unionism in British Politics since 1968 (Macmillan and Hoover Institution Press, 1979); and Wage Politics in Britain, 1945–1967 (Iowa State University and Charles Knight, 1973). He also coedited (with Peter Duignan) Politics in Western Europe (Hoover Institution Press,1988) and (with Steffen Schmidt) Soldiers in Politics (Geron-X, 1974).
Dorfman received his MA and his PhD, both in political science, from Columbia University. He received his BS from the University of Wisconsin.
