Zohar Dov

1. The late Prof. Emeritus Dov Zohar (1945–2023).

Prof. Emeritus Dov Zohar received his doctorate in 1975 in industrial-organizational psychology at the University of Maryland. Upon his return to Israel, he joined the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management in the Behavioral Sciences and Management research group. Dov specialized in a variety of research areas in organizational behavior and human factors engineering. Dov was renowned for his research on safety climate. He developed the concept of a safety climate theoretically, methodologically and empirically. Dov developed the first tool for measuring the safety climate in organizations, which became a standard in safety climate measurement (1980). Dov Zohar was renowned for the intervention studies he carried out in factories in which he introduced a safety climate in the organization and promoted managerial behavior that strengthened the safety climate. His studies showed a significant decrease in work accidents following the introduction of a safety climate as well as an improvement in employee health. Dov was greatly esteemed by the academic community and industry. He received prestigious international awards including an award for outstanding scientific contribution from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (1981; 1982) as well as awards from the American Psychological Association (2003; 2013), including for Lifetime Achievement (2008). Dov was a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and was invited as a guest to prestigious research institutions such as the Tavistock Institute in London, the Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, the Safety Research Center, Boston, and the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Maryland, the University of Calgary, the University of Nebraska, the University of Washington and the University of Southern California.

Professor Zohar continued his groundbreaking research activity despite the illness that he suffered from and fought against from 2006 until his death.

In 2014, when Prof. James Allison received the Harvey Award at the Technion, Prof. Zohar asked to introduce him and said that he owed him his life. When Dov’s incurable illness was discovered, he looked for experimental treatments that were still in the process of being tested and came upon the innovative therapy that was developed by Dr. Allison and was being tested at the Dana-Farber Hospital in Boston. Dov, who did not give up, managed to be accepted as a patient in the trial and was among the few who, thanks to it, lived for many years more. His adherence to the goal and his ability to relentlessly continue research activity while in a severe state of health were admirable.

Dov was pleasant-mannered, a researcher at heart, and he supervised a considerable group of students, some of whom are university faculty members.

May his memory be blessed.