CHICAGO, IL (Chicago Tribune) - B. Peter Pashigian, 68, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business for nearly four decades who studied the way industries organize and operate, died of cancer Wednesday, October 18, in his home in Hyde Park.

Mr. Pashigian was dedicated to understanding his main area of interest, retail distribution, and other economic problems in a concrete, real way, said college ague Sam Peltzman.

Mr. Pashigian's studies included research into the way shopping malls allocated space and also studies on pricing and shopping practices.

During the 1980s, he was the author of a pioneering study on the politics of pollution regulation.

Skeptical of government regulation and respectful of the market, Mr. Pashigian was a "typical representative" of the school's economics, Peltzman said.

Mr. Pashigian's publications included the 1998 textbook "Price Theory and Applications" and several scholarly articles. He was co-editor of the Journal of Business.

Born in Detroit, Mr. Pashigian earned a degree in economics from Wayne State University in 1954 and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He served as a senior research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He joined the University of Chicago's faculty in 1961.

Besides his wife and daughter, Mr. Pashigian is survived by a son, Peter Allan Pashigian, and sister, Ardem Antonian. The funeral service was private and a memorial service was held at a later date.