Ivan M. Maksimović (1924–2007) was a member of the Union of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) during WWII. After finishing his studies at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, he was elected in 1950 to be a teaching assistant at the Department of Economic Sciences of the aforementioned faculty. He received his PhD in 1957 at the same faculty. He was elected assistant professor in 1958, associate professor in 1963 and full professor in 1968. From 1975 to 1985, he was the Chair of the Department of Economic Sciences of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade. He spent the school year of 1961/62 in the USA as a recipient of the Ford Foundation grant for the specialist studies in the field of comparative socialist economic systems post-classic economic theory of socialism at the universities of Columbia, Harvard and California.
In the Institute of Social Sciences, he was the Head of the Centre for Economic Sciences. Maksimović was the Secretary General and Vice-President of the Association of Economists of Yugoslavia, as well as chair and member of numerous committees and bodies of these associations.
He was elected a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1978, and a full member in 1985. He was the Secretary of the Social Sciences Department of the Academy from 1989 to 1993. He worked in the following scientific bodies of the Academy: Board for Philosophy and Social Theory, Interdepartmental Board for the Third Millennium, Committee for Economic Sciences, Interdepartmental Board for Studying the Position and Problems of Science, Group for Constitutional Legal Issues, Interdepartmental Board for Studying Human and Minority Rights.
In the field of science, the main areas of Ivan Maksimović’s interest and contribution included economic theory and methodology, comparative economic systems, self-management society – economic systems.
He received major awards and accolades: Order of the Merit to the People 3rd degree, Order of the Golden Laurel, Order of Labour with Red Banner, 7th July Award.
