Donald L. Kanter; Educator, Wrote Book on Cynicism

Donald Lucky Kanter, former chairman of the Graduate School of Business Administration at USC and author of a 1990 book on cynicism that was popularized by satiric newspaper columnists and talk show hosts looking for laughs, has died of a heart attack.

Boston University, where he was professor emeritus and a former chairman of the marketing department at the School of Management, said Kanter was 70 and died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack July 12.

He was in his Wardley, England, home when he died.

Kanter, whose writings in “The Cynical Americans” were cited by President Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign, joined the faculty of USC in 1968. From 1981 to 1988 Kanter was on the faculty of Boston University as a professor and then chairman of the marketing department.

He was also a visiting professor at the University of London from 1978 to 1980.

At Boston University he began a national study on the rise of cynicism in America that was cited by business, education and government leaders ranging from Clinton to Fred (Chico) Lager, president of Ben & Jerry’s.

In the book, co-authored with Philip Mirvis, Kanter reported that more than 40% of U.S. workers don’t believe what their supervisors say; that industries such as finance and advertising cultivate cynicism and that the marked increases in drug and alcohol abuse in this nation can be directly traced to a general lack of faith.

Clinton cited selections from the book in many of his speeches, suggesting that he could provide alternatives.