U.T. Saunders, 59; consultant on diversity issues in workplace

U.T. SAUNDERS

In workshops he conducted for school districts and companies around the state, U.T. Saunders urged executives to tackle major systemic problems regarding race and gender in the workplace. He helped organizations think about how to change their practices, and in many cases, how to bring more women and racial minorities into the highest echelons of power.

An organizational development consultant from Brookline, Mr. Saunders was known for easing tensions and helping organizations navigate intense changes. He worked for such companies as Polaroid Corp. and The Boston Globe and school districts such as Waltham's to create ways to help them reflect the diversity of their communities.

Often wearing earth tones and his signature silk scarves, Mr. Saunders was known for frank talk about difficult issues.

"What I think is most helpful in most places, most of the time, is being able to have open, honest, direct, respectful conversation," Mr. Saunders said in a 2006 Globe interview. "Sometimes I'm facilitating conversations like these in ways that help keep the environment safe, but open and honest."

Mr. Saunders died Jan. 31 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center from cancer that had metastasized. He was 59.

The Cleveland native made a name for himself during his consulting days at Polaroid. He was hired to help the company address issues of race and gender and worked full time for the company in the 1980s.

His approach was one-of-a-kind, said Bruce Albert, a consultant who worked with him on many projects.

"He copyrighted nothing," Albert said. "He gave his work out freely. You could not imitate it because it was so uniquely his."

He developed a workshop that he presented throughout New England, and "his exercises were challenging," Albert said. "He was not a consultant who just looked at victimization."

He was also memorable figure, Albert said.

"Everyone would remember his voice," he said. "It was deep and soft and healing."

He "really crossed all race and gender lines, even when he was doing difficult and strenuous work that was intimidating to people," Albert added.

Mr. Saunders was born in Cleveland and studied at Kent State University before moving to Boston in 1976 to earn a master's degree in education from Harvard University.

He spent the next 3 1/2 decades working as an organizational development consultant.

"He just liked the nuances of business and organizations and being able to address issues and concerns about diversity, race, gender, and things of that nature, by helping them see things from a different perspective and adding some clarity," his son Brendan of Los Angeles said. "He really was a visionary."

After working for Polaroid in the 1980s, he was hired by many Boston area companies, including the Globe, to lead his signature workshops and seminars.

As he approached the thorny questions facing corporate America, "he was really surgical in his analysis of what their problems were, who were the people causing the problem, who were the people who could solve the problem. It was really interactive," his son said.

Even as his cancer worsened, he continued to consult, most recently for the Steps Coalition, a nonprofit group based in Biloxi, Miss. After three bouts of cancers over the years, "His ability to say difficult things to people - things that might have been difficult for people to hear - just opened up and widened as a consequence of how he changed," said Jacqui Lindsay, a longtime friend.

His love of jazz will be honored with a musical tribute on WGBH radio during an evening show on Feb. 29.

In addition to his son, Mr. Saunders leaves a daughter Kelly, of Phoenix; and three brothers, Jerome and Brad of Cleveland, and Kenneth of New York City.

A memorial service will be held at noon March 1 in Arlington Street Church in Boston.