Frank Pinkus, WG’61, a former admissions officer in the Office of Admissions, died on July 27 from Parkinson’s Disease. He was 84.

Mr. Pinkus was born in Pittsburgh to German immigrant parents who had fled Nazi Germany. Mr. Pinkus attended Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated cum laude. He was then accepted into Penn’s Wharton School, graduating in 1961 with an MBA in marketing. 

After a career in retail management across the country (including roles of increasing responsibility at department stores A&S, Kaufman’s, Rike’s, and Orbach’s), Mr. Pinkus became an entrepreneur, founding several companies. These included N’est-ce Pas, which sold low-priced designer women’s clothing; Pistache, another clothing firm; and Nissan Time, which distributed clock movements sourced from Taiwan. In 1995, Mr. Pinkus returned to Penn as an admissions officer in the Provost’s Center, holding responsibility for the southwestern United States and heading the Southern California Regional Advisory Board. Though he retired in 2007, he maintained close relationships with many students he admitted and officiated weddings for Penn alumni.

Mr. Pinkus is survived by his wife, Sylvia Ward; his children, Gary (Mary), Mark (Lya) and Lynn (Evan Lewis); his grandchildren, Dani (Henry), Amy, Charlie, Ellie, Nicole, Sam, Sutton, Olivia, and Griffin; and his brother, Ralph.