The Legacy of Charles C. Slater

At 39 years of age, Dr. Charles C. Slater (Chuck) returned from industry to academic scholarship. In the next 15 years, until he finally succumbed to cancer in 1978, he accomplished what few scholars have in their lifetimes—the institutionalization of a branch of study. The Macromarketing Society, 30 years of the Journal of Macromarketing, and 34 years of the Macromarketing Conferences and their progeny all emerged as a result of his ability to excite other scholars to study and develop this field that he envisioned. He was a unique combination of visionary, enabler, and adventurer whose limitations even helped insure his legacy.