Gary Evans

Gary Evans, emeritus professor of economics at Harvey Mudd College, died Sept. 20 after a long period of illness.

Evans long championed entrepreneurship at Harvey Mudd College, where, from 1981 to 2020, he served as professor of economics in the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts. An expert in enterprise and entrepreneurship, financial institutions and small business development, he taught courses in macroeconomics, entrepreneurship and finance. Evans was an early advocate of online teaching and learning and shared free online chapters in finance and macroeconomics as well as short instructional videos—what he called targeted open online topics (TOOTs).

Evans was a strong advocate for faculty governance and for years was the voice of the faculty on the Faculty Budget Committee. His primary fields of research were monetary theory and policy and macroeconomic policy. His publications include the textbook Macroeconomics, written with fellow economist Howard Sherman and published by Harper and Row in 1984, and Red Ink: The Budget, Deficit, and Debt of the U.S. Government, published by Academic Press in 1997. Evans also taught at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate Management Center (Claremont Graduate School/University).

Employing a variety of approaches, Evans strategically connected and inspired innovative students and alumni. In 1990, he founded the Harvey Mudd College Entrepreneurial Network, supported by a loyal cadre of alumni and friends. Its first meetings were held in Berkeley, Santa Clara, La Jolla and San Francisco and included Joe Costello ’74, electronic design automation pioneer (his companies include think3 and Electronic Speech Systems) and Dan Meacham ’95, analog subsystem designer (founder of innoCOMM and Staccato Communications). Evans encouraged all entrepreneurially-minded students to attend Entrepreneurial Network meetings.

In 2017, Evans partnered with entrepreneur Josh Jones ’98, DreamHost co-founder, to start the Harvey Mudd incubator HMC INQ. Modeled after the successful and popular incubator Y Combinator, HMC INQ is open to anyone related to the College, and Evans continued working with Jones and other alumni entrepreneurs after his retirement from teaching in 2020.

In addition to his academic activities, Evans was a principal co-owner and vice president of Bora Software Inc, a programming firm that specialized in bank management systems. He was the primary programmer of the Bora Credit Evaluation and Cashflow Model used by the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to train bank regulators. It allowed bank lenders to evaluate the credit-worthiness of their corporate borrowers.

Evans received his B.A. (1974) from California State University, Fresno, and an M.A. (1978) and PhD (1981) from the University of California at Riverside (all degrees in economics). He was named an Honorary Alumnus in 2020 by the Harvey Mudd Alumni Association.

He is survived by his wife, Sonia, daughters Leslie Kahle and Jennifer Scott, and grandchildren, Aidan, Rylan, Arabella, Georgina, William and Thomas.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Nov. 10, at 4:00 p.m. in the Strauss Plaza on the Harvey Mudd College campus.

Memories of Gary Evans

Patrick Justice

Pupil

I never had the pleasure of meeting or learning from Gary in person, but gained so much knowledge and insight from the classes he posted online. I’m sad to say those videos and course links have since been taken down and I wish I could enjoy them all again. If anyone has access to or knowledge of where one might access those course materials Gary used to have posted on youtube or his page palmislandtraders, I would be eternally grateful to hear from you. I can be reached at patrickorbenjamin@gmail.com or 818.406.5586.
I feel blessed to have gotten the chance to learn from Professor Evans and will always hold what he shared with the world in my heart and in the highest of regards.

michael van Driel 91/92 '91

Student, friend, mentor

Professor Evans was one of maybe three people that had the biggest impact on my life both personally and professionally…. if not for Gary I’d never have built up the courage to carve a life for myself and my family abroad. Every time I do a pitch, be the pitch to clinicians or business partners, I always to this day think of Gary and the enormous impact he had and continues to have on me. I was so fortunate this summer to have had the opportunity to tell him this myself in person, and what an honor and privilege that was. Jennifer, Sonia and family, I am so very sorry for your loss but I will always cherish what Gary has given me and the memories of him. He leaves the world a better place thanks to all the people he helped and mentored, there are few who can ever say the same. He will be sorely missed by all.

Gil Fuchs '85

Student and disciple

The think which most struck me about Professor Evans (can I now finally call him Gary 🙂 ) was his free thinking and being unencumbered by dogma, gospel and expectations. I wrote to my mom at the time, after just a few sessions of Econ that I have met someone so refreshingly open minded and encompassing. I loved his classes and further enjoyed directed reading classes with him which he happy got out of his way accommodate me to it. He helped me think for myself – that is the biggest gift an educator can give his student. and for this I will eternally be grateful. Sorry that I didn’t have a chance to him in person. my condolences to his family of this unique incredible human being. he made a difference !

Paul Steinberg

Colleague and friend

Gary was an amazing mentor and friend. I have more memories than I could share, but here’s a handful. At a time when I was encountering pushback against a new initiative, he said “Never mind them! You’re a steamship, just keep plowing ahead.” At a time when he perceived a threat to free speech on campus, he said if anyone tries to chill dialogue, he’d tack a poster of Chairman Mao on his door. When I was looking for housing, he thumbed his nose at the snootiness of Claremont said “Don’t look west – go east!” He loved hanging out with unpretentious people at the Etiwanda Roadhouse in Rancho. Poker, martinis, grandkids, and economics. He had more backbone than anyone I know, yet didn’t have a mean bone in his body. I never heard him make an unfair remark. He always spoke with such strength and dignity at faculty meetings. With students, any time I passed by his office he was hanging onto their every word. This guy was one in a million. I will miss him and will never forget his example.

Paul Frankel '86

Student, friend and colleague

Professor Evans was unmatched in his humor as professor. In one class, I was required to write a 12 page research paper. My paper was short of the required length, so naturally I increased the font size. When I first turned in the paper, he said “Hold on”. And he walked to other side of his office and propped the paper up and walked back to the door and looked at it with me from a distance and said “Yup. I thought I could read it from across the room”. His humor, insight and ability to communicate complex ideas was easy to see as a student, but it is only in hindsight that I could see his foresight. To watch how he evolved the program at HMC to foster the entrepeneurial spirit within student engineers and scientists was nothing short of amazing. And how he engaged and befriended former students, and gave us insights, connections and advice, was beyond generous. To Sonia and his entire family, thank you for sharing his time with us.