DeLuca, Edward D., 1910-1985

Professional engineer and management consultant.

Edward Donald deLuca was born in Montclair, N.J., in 1910. He received his B.S. in Engineering from the University of Alabama and his M.B.A. from New York University. He began his career as an industrial engineer for the Western Electric Company at Kearny, N.J. From 1940 to 1948 he was assistant professor of industrial engineering at the University of Florida, during which time he also practiced as a manangement consultant and also served as an officer of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. From 1948 to 1952 deLuca was associate professor of administrative engineering at Pratt Institute. In 1952 he left the academy and became an executive with the Gardner Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh.

When the Gardner Manufacturing Company was sold to new owners in 1959, deLuca was forced to become a free-lance management consultant. His primary client was the U.S. Agency for International Development, for whom deLuca organized training seminars and studies aimed at increasing the productivity of allied nations by the export of American management techniques. DeLuca visited about 40 foreign countries, mostly in Latin America, but also Austria, France, Spain and Turkey.

When during the Johnson Administration state and federal funds were made available to stem the economic decline of American cities, deLuca again changed careers and devoted his expertise to urban economic development. In 1964 he became Director of Economic Development for the City of Baltimore, where he remained until 1977. In his first years in Baltimore he organized the first HUB ("Help Urban Business") Club and encouraged the formation of similar clubs in other cities. These quickly evolved into the HUB Council, Inc., a national organization of urban development professionals, and then into the National Council for Urban Economic Development, of which deLuca was president until 1970 and a director until 1980. From 1977 to 1982 deLuca was Director of Pittsburgh's Department of City Development. He died at Pittsburgh, Pa., on May 28, 1985.

From the description of Papers, 1932-1985. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86094003