Caltech Mourns the Passing of Professor Kim Border (1952–2020)

Kim C. Border (BS ’74), a longtime professor of economics at Caltech, passed away November 19. He was 68 years old.

“Kim was a dedicated teacher and a very generous colleague,” says Jean-Laurent Rosenthal (PhD ’88), Caltech’s Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and the Ronald and Maxine Linde Leadership Chair of the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences. “He was always willing to share his deep knowledge of economic theory. He was also curious about many things well beyond the domain of mathematical economics. His quiet dedication to being a helpful member of the division was appreciated by everyone. Above all, he cared about people, and although he liked to tease, he really worked to make everyone feel welcome and engaged.”

Border specialized in decision theory and incentive design. He applied insights from mathematical areas such as convex analysis and network flow programming to design incentives to solve resource allocation problems and to address issues of making decisions under risk. Border was the director of graduate studies for social sciences from 1994–96; the executive officer for the social sciences from 1995–99; and the chair of Caltech’s faculty board from 1999 to 2001.

Border was the author of three textbooks, including Infinite Dimensional Analysis: A Hitchhiker’s Guide (1994). He was on the editorial board of Economic Theory from 1990 to 2000 and was a panelist at the National Science Foundation’s Research Fellowship Program in 2003 and 2004. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Caltech in 1974, and his PhD in economics from University of Minnesota in 1979. He joined the Caltech faculty in 1979.

A full memorial story will follow at a later date.