He was the dean of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine from 1972 to 1983.

He was the co-author of many books of management, and "one of the primary founders of the study of organizational behavior.

[2][3] Porter began his career in the Psychology department at the University of California, Berkeley.

[1] Porter was "one of the primary founders of the study of organizational behavior," and he "played a major role in ensuring that organizational behavior would become an important component of modern business education.

[4] Porter died on July 2, 2015, in Newport Beach, California, at the age of 85.