SEIDMAN, Harold 1911-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 2, 1911, in New York, NY; died of prostate cancer August 20, 2002, in Washington, DC. Public administrator, educator, journalist, and author. Seidman worked for what is now called the U.S. Bureau of the Budget for nearly twenty-five years, first as an analyst and government corporation specialist, then as assistant director of organization and management. He focused his attention on federal programs that were administered by private companies, nonprofit organizations, or other agencies selected by the government. Seidman' realm of concern was accountability, especially when the oversight of the programs was passed along to these third-party agencies instead of being retained by the federal agency funding them. One of Seidman's books most widely known books, Politics, Position, and Power: The Dynamics of Federal Organization, went through five editions following its appearance in 1970 and was still in use as a college textbook at the time of its author's death. Seidman begun his career as a journalist for the Nation, and in the 1930s he investigated labor union corruption in New York City under Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. In retirement Seidman became a scholar at the National Academy of Public Administration, a senior fellow of the Center for the Study of American Government at Johns Hopkins University, and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. He also taught political science at the University of Connecticut from 1971 to 1984. In 2001 Seidman received the Keeperof-the-Flame Award of the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Post, August 22, 2002, obituary by Adam Bernstein, p. B6.

OTHER

Government Executive,http://www.govexec.com/ (August 21, 2002), obituary by Jason Peckenpaugh.