Richard ‘Doc’ Aplin, emeritus professor of marketing, dies at 96

Richard "Doc" Aplin, M.S. '51, Ph.D. '59, a dedicated teacher and mentor whose research and extension work helped food producers, distributors and retailers improve their businesses, died Sept. 17 in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was 96.

Aplin, an emeritus professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, part of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, spent nearly four decades at Cornell. He joined the Dyson School in 1956 as a professor of marketing, before earning his doctorate in 1959. He retired in 1995 and was named emeritus professor.

Aplin taught both the introductory course in business management and the capstone course in business strategy. His introductory course became one of the largest at Cornell, enrolling upwards of 800 students. The size of the class exceeded the capacity of traditional lecture halls, prompting the use of "TV rooms" where students watched his lectures via video. Aplin also innovated by assembling a team of undergraduate teaching assistants, a model that enhanced student engagement.

He was selected as one of the inaugural recipients of the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow Award, honoring distinguished faculty who demonstrated a sustained commitment to undergraduate education.

In the late 1990s, the Richard Aplin Teaching Excellence Fund was established by alumnus J. Patrick Mulcahy '66, MBA '67. The fund is intended to support masters and doctoral students in the applied economics and management field at the Dyson School with financial aid and research funding.

"Doc Aplin was the finest teacher I encountered at Cornell," Mulcahy said. "He made ag economics fun, and his candy experiment to illustrate the law of diminishing returns was legendary. As my adviser, he took a personal interest in me and pushed me to be my best self. Without Doc as a teacher, mentor and friend, I would not have had the success in business I enjoyed."

Aplin's scholarly work was equally impactful, colleagues said. He engaged in a wide range of research and extension projects that blended his expertise in business management and marketing with deep knowledge of food industry dynamics.

A central theme of Aplin's research was the analysis of dairy foods processing and marketing, including the economic structures that shaped those industries. In the 1960s, Aplin developed the Dairy Management Information System (DMIS), an initiative that built on the department's tradition of helping businesses share records and develop analytics. DMIS enabled dairy processors to benchmark performance, estimate costs and inform both business decisions and regulatory hearings. This work provided the foundation for ongoing research on cost estimation and market analysis, which became essential tools for both industry and policymakers.

Aplin was a key collaborator in the Food Industry Management Program, a Cornell initiative focused on food distribution and retail. His partnership with Gene German, M.S. '59, Ph.D. '78, the Robert G. Tobin Professor of Food Marketing in the Dyson School, led to one of the first applications of direct product profitability, a method for analyzing the profitability of individual products and categories in complex retail environments. This work helped food retailers better understand their margins and optimize product offerings, demonstrating Aplin's ability to translate academic insights into practical solutions.

Throughout his career, Aplin published extensively in the department's publication series, contributing both research and extension papers that addressed pressing economic issues in agriculture. His work was known for its clarity, detail, relevance and utility, qualities that reflected his deep respect for both scholarship and the communities it served, his colleagues said.

"Dick's care for his students and the high standards he set for himself as a teacher and for his students was unmatched," said Andrew Novakovic, the E.V. Baker Professor of Agricultural Economics Emeritus at the Dyson School, a onetime protégé of Aplin who was serving as chair of the department when Aplin retired. "Those of us who had the privilege to work with him as a researcher learned that his attention to detail and mastery of his subjects of interest were no less than those exhibited in the classroom. He was a generous person, a truly devoted father and husband, and a friend who inspired joy and laughter."

Aplin was preceded in death by his wife, JoAnne, and is survived by their five children: Priscilla March, David Aplin, Leslie Wharton, Beth Conrad and Mark Aplin and their families. Following JoAnne's death, Aplin married Peggy Hoyt, who died in 2015.

A celebration of life will be held at the Boulders on the Riverwoods Exeter Campus in Exeter, New Hampshire, on Nov. 10 at 1:30 pm.

Sarah Magnus-Sharpe is director of public relations and communications for the SC Johnson College of Business.