Segall, Joel E., 1923-2004

Dr. Segall, who earlier had a career at the University of Chicago and at the Treasury and Labor Departments in Washington, led the Baruch branch of the City University of New York from 1977 until 1990. With about 15,000 students, the college describes itself as home to the largest combined undergraduate and graduate business school in the country.

The most visible results of the master plan adopted under Dr. Segall's guidance are two centers near the building at 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue where Baruch was born in 1847 as a free public school of higher education called a Free Academy. The two centers are the Information and Technology Building, housing the Newman Library, and the 17-story Vertical Campus, which opened two years ago.

Joel Edwin Segall was born in Bridgeport, Conn. He served in the Army Air Force in World War II before receiving his M.B.A. (1948), M.A. (1952) and Ph.D. (1956) degrees at the University of Chicago. He joined the faculty as an assistant professor of finance in 1952.

He taught for 20 years at the University of Chicago Graduate School and eventually became director of its doctoral programs. He was also a visiting professor at institutions including the Royal College of Science and Technology in Scotland and Stanford University.

In the early 1970's he was deputy assistant secretary for tax policy in the Treasury Department and deputy undersecretary for international affairs in the Department of Labor. An authority on corporate mergers, he was a consultant to the Securities and Exchange Commission when New York City's Board of Higher Education chose him to lead Baruch in 1977.

He became a strong voice for keeping the college relatively close to the financial industry, in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. There it serves as City University's preparatory school for business managers.

Dr. Segall is survived by his wife of 45 years, Joan Downey Segall; a daughter, Patricia D. Coughlin of Shrewsbury, N.J.; two sisters, Sandra Levin of Bridgeport, and Arlyne Segall of Trumbull, Conn.; and one grandson. A daughter, Jamie, died in 1989.