David Ansell Thomas (July 5, 1917 – June 28, 2004)[1][2] was an American educator and the seventh Dean of the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, from 1981 to 1984.
During the Second World War, Dean Thomas served as a captain, U.S. Army Air Corps, seeing combat duty in the Pacific theater.
As administrator, Charles E. Merrill Family Trust Fund, he administered $120 million in grants to educational institutions, medical school, religious charities, and social-service organizations.
In 1954, he joined the Cornell School of Business and Public Administration (subsequently named the Graduate School of Management, and eventually the Johnson Graduate School of Management) as an associate professor of accounting.
He continued to teach and publish extensively during the 1960s and 1970s, and finally became dean in 1981.