John Lansing Carey

The son of Harry Lansing and Elizabeth Cameron Carey was born May 30, 1904, in Brooklyn, New York. His family moved to Long Island about 1908 where he attended Richmond Hill High School. He was elected to Arista, a scholastic fraternity, and was secretary of the senior class, before graduating in 1921.

He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Yale University where he graduated in 1925. Upon graduating from Yale, he joined the staff of the AICPA as assistant secretary, a position he held until being elected secretary in 1930. In 1948 he was elected as the AICPA's executive director. In 1967 he was promoted to administrative vice president. He retired from the Institute in 1969. He was closely associated with the AICPA's official periodical,The Journal of Accountancy, serving as managing editor (1937-49), editor (1949-54), and publisher (1955-66). Upon retirement, a scholarship fund was established in his name at the AICPA by contributions from members of the accounting profession. The scholarship is awarded annually to a member of the senior class of Yale who intends to do graduate work in accounting.

He was vice president of the AAA (1969). He gave hundreds of speeches to various professional groups and he wrote numerous articles for professional journals. He authored Professional Ethics of Public Accounting (1946), Professional Ethics of Certified Public Accountants (1956), The CPA Plans for the Future (1965), Ethical Standards of the Accounting Profession with William 0. Doherty (1966), The Rise of the Accounting Profession from Technician to Professional - 1896-1936, Volume I (1969), The Rise of the Accounting Profession to Responsibility and Authority - 1937-1969, Volume II (1970), and Getting Acquainted with Accounting (1973). In 1961 he received the AICPA's Gold Medal Award. He was an honorary member of the University of Washington chapter of Beta Alpha Psi.

The value of his contributions to the profession of accounting is exemplified by the fact that he was the first non-CPA to receive the AICPA's Gold Medal Award, the only officer of the AAA who has been neither an accounting academic nor an accounting professional, and he was one of four non-CPAs to be elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame. After retiring he continued to make contributions to the profession of accounting by serving as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois (spring semester, 1970) and the University of Georgia (spring quarter, 1971), and a lecturer at the University of Maryland (1970) and Texas Christian University (fall, 1971).

From 1936 to 1951, while living in Roslyn, Long Island, he served as secretary and president of the Roslyn Estates Association, a trustee of the Village of Roslyn Estates, and president of the Board of Trustees of the Buckley Country Day School. He also served as president, executive vice president, and executive secretary of the Northwest Connecticut Taxpayers Association, and member, Annual Giving Committee, Sharon Hospital. From 1942 to 1944 he served as a private of the 7th Regiment New York State Guard.

He married Joyce Newman on January 27, 1933; they had two children. During his leisure time he enjoyed golf, gardening, bridge, stereo music, and reading. He died October 24, 1987 at the age of 83.