After a long and distinguished career, Louis E. "Gene" Boone passed away just before the publication of the 13th edition of CONTEMPORARY MARKETING. Over the years, students and colleagues at the University of Tulsa and the University of South Alabama and other schools in the U.S., Australia, and Europe were fortunate to be influenced by Gene's insights. Many marketing instructors knew Gene through his distinguished career and remember the numerous contributions that he made to business education. Gene was a pioneer of the marketing discipline and arguably the best and most creative business writer of his generation.
David L. Kurtz has taught at a number of major U.S. and foreign universities and has co-authored best-selling books with Louis E. Boone. Their publications have been translated into Chinese, French, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. Dave has lectured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He attended Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, before entering the graduate business school at the University of Arkansas, where he met Gene Boone. Gene and Dave became longtime co-authors; together they have produced more than 50 books. In addition to writing, Dave and Gene have been partners in several entrepreneurial ventures. But four years at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, turned him around. Excellent teachers helped get Dave on a sound academic footing. His grade point average soared—enough to get him accepted by the graduate business school at the University of Arkansas, where he met Gene Boone. After graduate school, the two became career co-authors, with over 50 books between them. Gene and Dave also got involved in several entrepreneurial ventures. Today, Dave Kurtz is back teaching at the University of Arkansas after duty tours in Ypsilanti, Michigan; Seattle; and Melbourne, Australia. He is the proud grandfather of five "perfect" kids and a sportsman with a golfing handicap too high to mention. Dave, his wife, Diane, and four demanding canine companions (Daisy, Lucy, Molly, and Sally) live in Rogers, Arkansas. Dave holds a distinguished professorship at the Sam M. Walton College of Business in nearby Fayetteville, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
