"I'm saddened and offended by the idea that companies exist to enrich their owners. That is the very least of their roles; they are far more worthy, more honorable, and more important than that. Without the vital creative force of business, our world would be impoverished beyond reckoning." — From the writing of business author Michael Hammer, who died Wednesday in Boston at 60.

He co-wrote with James Champy "Reengineering the Corporation," which influenced many corporations to reorganize their workplaces around the expertise of their employees. The 1993 book landed him on Time magazine's 1996 list of "America's 25 Most Influential People."