Professor Van Horne was a leader at the Stanford GSB, as well as a beloved teacher to some 8,000 students over the course of his career. | Photo by Steve LaBadessa
A legacy of knowledge, mentorship, and inspiration
James C. “Jim” Van Horne always made you want to be a better person, says finance professor George Parker, MBA ’62, PhD ’67. “He was supportive, engaging, approachable, exceedingly likable, and also modest. Nobody was such a pillar of the place as Jim.”
Van Horne, the A.P. Giannini Professor of Banking and Finance, Emeritus, died on September 1, 2025. He was 90.
From 1970 to 1973, Van Horne was the first faculty director of the MBA program, then served as the associate dean of academic affairs throughout most of that decade. “Jim played a key leadership role in driving the school to its top spot,” says Bob Joss, MBA ’67, PhD ’70, the Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean, Emeritus. “It is hard to overstate Jim’s influence and presence at the GSB.” He was also president of the American Finance Association and was deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury from 1975 to 1976.
Van Horne’s scholarship was both broad and deep; he authored more than 60 articles, 24 case studies, and five books. “Jim was truly an elder statesman in the field of finance,” says Peter DeMarzo, the John G. McDonald Professor of Finance. “His textbook, Financial Management and Policy, was adopted worldwide and was one of the first to integrate the principles of modern finance with corporate decision making.”
“He was greatly revered by all of his colleagues and students, without exception,” says Darrell Duffie, the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance. “Almost every time we met in the halls, Jim would stop and say something encouraging. He did that with everyone in the finance group.”
Estimating that he had taught around 8,000 students over his career, Van Horne had a legendary classroom style and hallmark “cold calling” approach for which he won numerous teaching awards. “He set the bar high and made you push yourself,” says Carl Berg, MBA ’98. “His goal was really to bring out the best in everyone.”
