Sheldon Rovin, 76, of Wynnewood, an innovative educator who held combined appointments in the School of Dental Medicine and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, died July 11 of cancer at home.

Dr. Rovin was former chairman of the department of dental-care systems at the dental school; director of the health-care executive management programs at Wharton; and director of Penn's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

A specialist in the application of systems thinking, Dr. Rovin was a philosopher who believed that everything interacts and nothing works in a bubble, said his wife, Nancy Gold Rovin.

Dr. Rovin, who was also an emeritus professor at Penn, had done cancer research and wrote more than 90 articles and book chapters and nine books.

The health-care management programs he directed at Penn included one for hospital pharmacy executives and one for nurse executives, which he initiated.

After retiring nine years ago, he continued to consult and write, and published three books: Medicine and Business: Bridging the Gap and, with Russell Ackoff, Redesigning Society and Beating the System: Using Creativity to Outsmart Bureaucracies.

Dr. Rovin maintained his interest in dental care. In 1984, he filed a complaint with the Public Utility Commission charging Philadelphia Suburban Water Co.'s service was not "safe, adequate, or reasonable" because of the firm's refusal to fluoridate water.

A PUC administrative law judge rejected Dr. Rovin's argument.

A native of Detroit, Dr. Rovin took undergraduate courses, then earned a dental degree and a master's degree in pathology from the University of Michigan, where he met his future wife. He was in dental school, and she was an undergraduate. "He cleaned my teeth," she said.

After serving in the Army for two years in Fort Bragg, N.C., he was a founding faculty member at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry. He was a professor of pathology and chaired the oral-pathology department of the dental school in Kentucky before becoming dean of the University of Washington College of Dentistry in 1973. From 1977 until moving to Penn in 1979, he was a fellow in the scholars program at the Veterans Administration in Washington.

An expert woodworker, Dr. Rovin made all the furniture for their home in the early years of their marriage, his wife said, including a crib for his children, which was passed down to his grandchildren.

More recently, he made a carousel horse for his two grandsons and a carousel giraffe for his wife.

In addition to his wife of 52 years and grandsons, Dr. Rovin is survived by daughters Suzan and Lisa; a son, David; and two sisters.

Services were private.

Contact staff writer Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.