This is our page for honoring the memory of Jean L. Heck, our friend and colleague of so many years. 

Please submit any memories, stories, tall tales and/or unsubstantiated rumors that you would like to share to michael@uhcl.edu and I'll post them over time.

From Tim Michael:

I'll start.  I was introduced to Jean at an after-hours bull session in the lobby of the FMA hotel in New Orleans, 1995 or 1996.  He was hanging out with some of the faculty and older students from South Carolina.  Maybe "holding court" is a better term, but it wasn't really like that.  Of course I knew who Jean L. Heck was - he'd put together the book that we all had to have.  I can remember scrambling to get to the publisher's booth at FMA to get a copy of FLI before the stack ran out!  I think what amazed me was that from that point forward, every time I saw him, Jean was always interested in what was going on in my life, my schooling, positions I was applying for, family, etc.  Even though I was only a doctoral student at that point, it didn't make any difference to Jean (or, for that matter, the faculty at USC). 

One more thing:  For all of the professional success that he enjoyed, I think Jean was most proud of his family success and being able to take care of things at home.  He was a terrific role model to me in that way.  I miss Jean a great deal, and I'm sure I will miss him even more as September draws near!  The journals and the associations were the product of will on Jean's part, and in that way none of us (no dozen of us) can ever take his place.

From Geoff Hirt, DePaul University:

I met Jean at one of the FMA annual meetings and he became involved with the Journal of Financial Education during the time I was editor. I think sometime in the year 1985 or 1986 Jean took over the editorship of the JFE, and did a great job of building up the list of associate editors. He increased the readership list and was very successful in finding financial support for the journal. Jean had a passion for financial education and it showed in the many ways that he promoted the journal and his efforts to found the Financial Education Association. Jean will be missed by the community of financial scholars who care about improving the way we teach financial education.