Peter Arthur Firmin
(February 24, 1924 - December 5, 2024)

Peter A. Firmin was born on February 24, 1924 in Meeker, Louisiana, and died on December 5, 2024 in Littleton, Colorado. He received a B.S. in accounting in 1943 from Louisiana State University, an M.B.A. in 1948 from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in accounting in 1957 from the University of Michigan. After serving as an instructor in 1947-49 at St. Mary’s College of California, he spent 25 years on the faculty of Tulane University, from 1949 to 1974, chairing the accounting group during most years. From 1968 to 1974, he was dean of Tulane’s Graduate School of Business Administration. From 1974 to 1979, he was dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Denver (which became the Daniels College of Business in 1994), remaining on the faculty until his retirement in 1996.

In 1994-96, he was director of DU’s School of Accountancy, and from 1996 to 2010 he served as the School’s development officer.

On September 3, 1959, he married Jean Cameron Nash, and they had eight children.

In 1980-81, he was visiting professor at L’Université d’Aix-Marseille, in Aix-en-Provence, France.

From 1984 to 1992, he was founder and president of M&A International, and from 2006 to 2016 he was chief financial officer of the South Sudanese American Orphaned Rehabilitation Organization, based in Littleton, Colorado.

In 1966, Firmin coedited, with Hector R. Anton, Contemporary Issues in Cost Accounting: A Discipline in Transition, which came out in two revised editions in 1972 and 1978. In 1968, he coedited, with Alfred Rappaport and Stephen A. Zeff, Public Reporting by Conglomerates: The Issues, the Problems, and Some Possible Solutions. In 2007, he authored Pioneering Excellence, A History of Accounting Education at the University of Denver.

In 1967-68, he was academic vice president of the American Accounting Association.

Firmin leaves his widow Jean and eight children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

written by Stephen A. Zeff

William Henry Beaver
(April 13, 1940 - October 14, 2024)

William (Bill) Henry Beaver was born in Peoria, Illinois, to John and Ethel Beaver on April 13, 1940. He attended elementary school in Gary, Indiana and middle and high school in Hammond, Indiana. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1962.

While attending Notre Dame, he met his beloved wife, Suzanne Marie Hutton. They married three years later. He received an MBA and PhD from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago in 1965. He taught at the Graduate School of Business from 1965 to 1969, before accepting a position at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1969. He became an emeritus professor in 2006.

During his tenure at Stanford, his research contributions and intellectual leadership were truly pathbreaking, his teaching was inspiring, and his mentorship is treasured by many generations of grateful students and colleagues. His graduate textbook, Financial Reporting: An Accounting Revolution, has been a staple in many doctoral courses. He made profound contributions to the accounting profession in several capacities through his editorial review board service, membership in the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, membership in the SEC Advisory Committee on corporate disclosure, and as trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation. He received many teaching and research awards, including the Distinguished International Visiting Lecturer, Wildman Award, Outstanding Educator Award, the AAA's Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Lifetime Achievement Award, three‐time recipient of the AAA‐AICPA Outstanding Contribution to Accounting Literature Award, and the Seminal Contribution to Accounting Literature Award.

His areas of interest included the relationship between financial statement data and security prices and the prediction of failure. He was active in the American Accounting Association, where he served as President from 1987-1988. He was also a member of The Accounting Hall of Fame having been inducted in 1996.

He is survived by his wife Sue, his children Marie, Sarah, and David, his two grandsons, Cassiar and Aghileen, and by Marie’s partner Marvin, and his children Sedona and Jake. He and Sue enjoyed traveling, especially with their children and grandchildren.

Bill died of Covid. He passed away peacefully surrounded by family. Anyone wishing to make donations can donate to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Patricia Navarro

The AAA is saddened to share the news that we lost a member of the AAA community in the tragic University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) shooting that took place on December 6, 2023.

Patricia Navarro was an Assistant Professor of Accounting. She earned her Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Central Florida, her MAcc from Bowling Green State University, and her BBA in accounting from the University of Puerto Rico, Ponce. Dr. Navarro’s research focused on cybersecurity disclosures and assurance, internal control weakness disclosure, and data analytics. She was a member of The PhD Project. She was a recipient of the AICPA Fellowship for Minority Doctoral Students and the KPMG Foundation Minority Doctoral Students Scholarship from 2014 to 2019. Patricia was the co-recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the AAA AIS Section. 

Patricia had also been a member of the Accounting Behavior and Organization Section, the Accounting Information Systems Section, the Auditing Section, and the Diversity Section.

Prior to entering academia, Dr. Navarro was a Risk Assurance Manager in the PwC San Juan office. She specialized in Information Technology General Controls (ITGC) audits, System and Organization Controls (SOC) assurance, and data assurance. Dr. Navarro was also a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

We send our deepest sympathies, and our thoughts are with Patricia’s family, friends, and colleagues, as well as to all those affected by this tragedy. Read more at the UNLV Tribute page.

Jane Offutt Burns
(May 8, 1939 - November 6, 2023)

Jane Offutt Burns, 84, of Lubbock, Texas, passed away November 6, 2023, at her home. She was born in 1939, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Andrew J. Offutt IV and Helen Spaninger Offutt.

Jane was a much-beloved professor at Texas Tech University, where she held the Frank M. Burke Chair in Taxation. She was a brilliant teacher in the classroom, but her greatest joy was privately mentoring graduate students. Prior to Texas Tech, she taught at Indiana University, Penn State, Southern Illinois University, and Eastern Kentucky University. She held a Ph.D. from Penn State and an M.B.A. from the University of Louisville.

Jane was remarkably accomplished in many ways, often being the only woman in a male-dominated field. She didn't care for the term "feminist," but preferred to think of herself as a pioneer, blazing the trail for other women. Jane was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Business at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the third female C.P.A. in the state of Kentucky. She was also a world traveler, a private pilot, and a crack shot with a pistol.

Jane's academic career included writing two books on tax research as well as editing seven books on tax and business. She authored dozens of articles for professional journals and was the recipient of many research grants. She served on numerous boards for tax, accounting, and business. Her multiple awards include Outstanding Accounting Educator in Texas. Both her alma maters honored her with Distinguished alumni awards, and she was the first woman to receive the Smeal College of Business Accounting Department Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State.

She was a long-time member of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and was a founding member of the American Taxation Association (ATA) Section. She was the creator and first chair of the ATA midyear meeting. She was also the first female editor of The Journal of the American Taxation Association (JATA).

Jane was honest, forthright, and loyal. She faced adversity with an optimism and cheer that knew no bounds. She had a wonderful sense of humor and laughed in every conversation. Jane was legendary for both her frugalness and generosity.

After retiring from Texas Tech, Jane became extremely involved with the Lubbock community. She was active with Meals on Wheels, Sondra's Song, Goodwill Industries, the YWCA, and her church, Covenant Presbyterian. She was a staunch supporter of the Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball team and attended most home and many away games. Each May she hosted an elaborate Kentucky Derby party for her closest friends, whom she lovingly called "The Crazy Ladies."

Jane was predeceased by the love of her life, Henry (Hank) Burns. They met in 1967 and knew within two weeks that they'd get married. They had an adventurous life that included flying their Cessna around the interior of Alaska.

A devoted and kind aunt, she is survived by her nieces and nephews Chris Offutt, Jeff Offutt, Scotty Hyde, and Melissa Offutt; her grand nieces and nephews, Steffi Offutt, Joyce Su, Sam Offutt, and James Offutt; a great-grand niece, Hana Offutt, and a great-grand nephew, Fox Offutt. A strong believer in education, Jane was supportive of her family's efforts to attain degrees.

A memorial service will be December 1 from 1:00 pm-2:00 pm at Covenant Presbyterian in Lubbock, Texas. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Meals on Wheels in Lubbock.

Online condolences may be sent here.
 

William W. Stammerjohan
(January 19, 1948 - October 6, 2023)

Dr. William (Bill) Stammerjohan passed away on Friday evening October 6, 2023, peacefully surrounded by his family. Bill was born January 19, 1948, in Turlock, California to William Gilbert Stammerjohan and Rita May Atkinson. Bill went to Keys Elementary School, Turlock High School and then on to Modesto Junior College and UC Davis before graduating from California State University, Sacramento with a degree in accounting. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Accounting at Washington State University in 1995. Bill was married to Elizabeth Claire Allison on May 20th, 1970, in Lincoln, California.

Bill's extraordinary range of professions included farmer, professional drag racer, truck driver, machinist, race engine builder, businessman, and college professor. He was Professor Emeritus of Accounting at Louisiana Tech University. He was proud of being awarded the academic honor of the Harold J. Smolinski Eminent Scholar Chair. When not at work Bill's interests included travel, motorsports, keeping up with family, friends, former students and working on building projects at home. He was especially proud of his grandchildren and enjoyed following their various activities. Remember his credo, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!"

He had been a long-time member of the American Accounting Associaiton and had also been a member of the Diversity, Financial Accounting and Reporting, Management Accounting, and the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Sections. He had also served on the Membership Advisory Committee (2000-2001).

Bill is survived by his wife Claire Stammerjohan, his son Will (Connie) Stammerjohan, daughter Kathy (Mike) Huntzinger, grandchildren William, Anthony and Daniel Stammerjohan, Tiffany Halverson, Brandon Thurston, Mikey and Desi Huntzinger, nephew Michael (Rocio) Murphy and niece Lori (Juan) Sanchez. He is also survived by Marge Allison-Clinton, Linda (Alan) Murphy-Julien, Art (Julie) Allison, Stanley Leebeck, Zoe (Andrew) Vinall and Phil (Becky) Simms.
 

Jason Cornell Porter
(August 15, 1978 - August 23, 2023)

Jason Cornell Porter, 45, of Pullman, WA passed away August 23, 2023 at Pullman Regional Hospital. Jason was born August 15, 1978 in Provo, UT to Cornell & Ruth (Brady) Porter. He grew up in West Valley City, UT where he graduated from high school. He then attended Snow College where he earned his Associates degree. Jason served his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the New Jersey, Cherry Hill mission, Spanish-speaking. He learned to speak Spanish fluently there and used it the rest of his life in both personal and professional capacities. His mission experiences not only created a love for Hispanic people, but began a life-long love affair with cooking. Following this two year mission, Jason returned to Provo and received both his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in accounting at BYU. While there, he married Carrie Ann Robison on July 15, 2000. They were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos temple in American Fork, UT.

After Jason received his Master’s degree, they moved to Athens, Georgia where Jason then completed his PhD education at the University of Georgia. During this time, Jason and Carrie had their first two children, daughter Emily and son Josh. The family arrived on the Palouse in 2006, where Jason taught for 8 years at the University of Idaho. While living in Moscow, their third child, Michael, was born. Following 4 years teaching at the University of South Dakota, the family moved back to the Palouse where Jason continued his career at Washington State University in the Carson College of Business. He was a longtime member of the American Accounting Association and was a member of the Management Accounting and the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Sections, as well as the Western Region.

Jason was an accomplished author of accounting textbooks and cases, research publications, course specific materials, and short fiction stories. His prolific, thoughtful writing gained him the admiration and respect of peers, students, and other professionals. Jason had over 30 publications appearing in journals such as The CPA Journal, Journal of Business Ethics Education, Strategic Finance, Issues in Accounting Education, Radiology Management, Business Education Innovation Journal, and Journal of Accounting Education. He served as an associate editor for the IMA Educational Case Journal and an editorial review member for the Journal of Accounting Education and Issues in Accounting Education. He was also a wonderful teacher and mentor, receiving many awards for his service throughout the years, including Washington State University’s Global Campus Excellence in Online Teaching award and the University of South Dakota’s Belbas-Larson award, the top teaching award offered by that university. Despite all of the honors he received, Jason maintained his strong focus on his students, making sure that their learning was his top priority. His famous catchphrase was “I have a spreadsheet for that,” and he always did! In fact, one of his students referred to him as an “Excel god.” Outside of spreadsheets, two of Jason’s greatest passions were cooking and making chocolate candy. He learned his candy making skills from his grandmother and was very proud to continue her legacy in his own way. Everyone he knew benefitted from these talents because he cooked often for his family and friends and sent candy out every Christmas.

Above all, Jason’s family and faith were of the utmost importance to him. Time spent with family was his top priority. Trips to the coast and reading great books aloud were always treasured moments, as well as walks, flying kites, sharing stories and singing together. Jason was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, serving in various capacities throughout his life - missionary, secretary, counselor, speaker, and many different teaching responsibilities. He is survived by his wife Carrie at the family home in Pullman; daughter Emily (Talon) Brown of Moscow, ID; two sons Josh and Michael Porter of Pullman; his parents Cornell & Ruth Porter of West Valley, UT; his brother Stephen (Vashti) Porter and his sister Jenni (Travis) Hogman.

Online condolences may be sent to www.corbeillfuneralhomes.com
 

Lloyd G. Sage
(July 26, 1940 - August 7, 2023)

Lloyd George Sage, age 83, of McAllen, Texas died suddenly on Monday, August 7, 2023 in Aurora, CO. Lloyd was born July 26, 1940 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He grew up in Cloquet, MN. He was predeceased by his parents, Rev. George and Natalie (Froehlich) Sage. He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 52 years, Judith A. (Jones) Sage; one brother, Edgar Sage; several sisters-in-law; brother-in-law; and nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Lloyd G. Sage, CPA, PhD, graduated from University of Minnesota at Duluth and University of Minnesota. He received his PhD from the University of Nebraska. He has taught at Texas A&M International University, the University of Illinois at Springfield, Governors State University, Purdue University Calumet, Central Michigan University, University of South Dakota, North Dakota State University and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point.

Lloyd had been an author for several Thomson Reuters CPE courses since 2000. Lloyd was a contributing author of the Prentice Hall’s Federal Tax Course textbook for six editions. He had published articles in Managerial Finance, The Tax Adviser, Healthcare Financial Management, Chartered Accountants Journal of New Zealand, and the International Journal of Public Information Systems. He was a member of the American Accounting Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and Decision Sciences Institute. Lloyd and Judy loved to travel – they went to every state except Alaska.

Those who wish may make memorial contributions to University of Minnesota at Duluth or Easter Seals.
 

Bertrand Nathan Horwitz
(March 12, 1927 - July 17, 2023)

Bertrand (“Bert”) Nathan Horwitz died in Asheville, NC on July 17, 2023. He was born in Chicago, IL, on March 12, 1927, to Max Solomon and Esther (Green) Horwitz. Bert leaves his wife of 70 years, Hertha (Ostre) Horwitz, and his children Eve Horwitz, Neal Horwitz, and Mara Smith, and grandchildren Shelly Horwitz, Dylan Smith, Natalia Smith, Elaine Emmerich, Elias Smith, Elah Horwitz, Hank Horwitz, and Jared Smith, his sister Norma Fenves, sons- and daughter-in-law Steve Emmerich, Jane Horan, and Bill Smith, brother-in-law Steve Fenves, and extended family along with a wide circle of friends, colleagues, former students, and others whose lives he touched around the world.

Bert dropped out of high school and joined the US Navy in 1944 at age 17 and served with an air/sea rescue unit in the Azores Islands. Upon returning to Chicago, he received his AB and MA from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. in Management and Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1961. His thesis during the Cold War was on Soviet Economics and Accounting. Bert served as an Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor at the University of Rochester, Syracuse University, and Binghamton University. Upon retiring in Asheville, he was an adjunct professor at UNC-Asheville in its Economics Department. He was also a visiting professor at MIT (Sloan Teaching Fellow), the University of Toronto, Cornell University, University of Chicago, the National Center for Science and Technology Management (Dalian, China), Haifa University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and City University of Hong Kong.

In 1981 Bert was invited by the US Commerce Department and Education Department to be part of a select group of academics to teach a condensed MBA equivalent to Chinese management professionals, and he taught American accounting procedures to make management decisions. His lectures in China during 1981, 1982, and 1984 had five printings in Chinese during a time when China was transitioning from state control to private property laws and free markets.

In 1992 he received the NY Governor’s Award for Exporting Excellence from Mario Cuomo for his work assisting small and medium-sized New York State firms through market research in China and Taiwan. Bert was the author and co-author of several books and several dozen articles in the fields of microeconomics, accounting, and finance, served as a consultant for the United Nations Committee on Transnational Corporations, and consulted for many years to the Hong Kong government for university research proposals.

One of Bert's favorite post-retirement avocations was writing letters to the editor on a broad array of topics. The Wall St Journal requested he use another name to publish more of his letters, which also appeared in The New York Times, The Economist, Financial Times, and op-ed columns in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Bert will be remembered for staying in resolute contact with family and friends, often clipping and sending newspaper or magazine articles with the heading "In Case You Missed It."

Memorial donations may be made to Congregation Beth HaTephila (43 No. Liberty St., Asheville, NC 28801), the American Committee of the Weizmann Institute for Science (633 Third Ave., NYC, NY 10017), or a charity of your choice.
 

Ronald Sumner Stone
(July 2, 1949 - July 2, 2023)

Dr. Ronald Stone passed away peacefully on his 74th birthday. With a Ph.D. from UCLA and expertise in accounting and auditing, he was an esteemed professor at California State University, Northridge. He mentored countless students and went above and beyond the call of duty as they moved through their education and into their careers. Anyone who had the privilege of benefitting from his contribution considered him to be a legend. Ron also built a reputation of integrity and professionalism in his CPA practice, where he specialized in condominium homeowner associations. Ron also developed a specialty in forensic fraud investigation and was an expert witness.

Born in Stamford, CT, Ron was known as Mr. Rolodex and was a master connector. He enjoyed traveling with his family. Ron received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and studied at Rutgers University where he earned a master's degree in business with a specialty in accounting. He had been a member of the American Accounting Association and involved in the Two-Year College and Forensic Accounting Sections.

Ron regularly watched the Nightly News and Jeopardy. He loved matzo ball soup and his Aunt Gertrude's lemon meringue pie. Ron was a devoted son, husband, father, brother and grandfather. He is survived by wife Arlene, children Karen and Daniel (Alanna), grandson, Micah and sister Jean S. Cohen (Mark). May he rest in peace. A Celebration of Life will be hosted by the family on August 20th in Northridge. Donations in his honor can be made to the Dr. Ronald Stone Endowed Scholarship Fund at CSUN, where the scholarship money will be granted to students studying accounting.
 

Ray Groves
(September 7, 1935 - May 3, 2023)

Ray Groves passed on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at the age of 87. A beloved husband and father, he is survived by his spouse of 61 years, Anne, his three sons, Phil, Matt, and Dave, eight grandchildren, and one great grandchild. His daughter, Elizabeth, and his parents, Gordon and Helen, preceded him in death.

Ray was born in Cleveland, Ohio on September 7, 1935, graduating from East Tech High School in 1953. Upon graduation from his beloved Ohio State University (OSU) summa cum laude in 1957, Ray joined the accounting firm of Ernst & Ernst in Cleveland. He became the youngest partner in firm history in 1966, at age 31. Ray served as Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Ernst beginning in 1977, at age 42, leading that firm through two pivotal mergers, with the NYC firm S. D. Leidesdorf & Co. in 1978, and then with English firm Whinney Murray & Co. in 1979, to form Ernst & Whinney. Upon the merger between Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young to create Ernst & Young (EY) in 1989, Ray served as Co-Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman and CEO of EY until his retirement in 1994 as the longest-serving CEO of a Big 8/Big 4 professional services firm in history.

He played a key role in leading the profession through a period of great change and development in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Ray was a visionary, swiftly leading E&E’s transformation from a powerhouse across the midwestern US to the market-leading global professional services firm it became. Ray’s greatest professional legacy was his partnership with his eventual Co-CEO, Bill Gladstone, to architect the most important, groundbreaking merger in the history of the accounting profession. At the time of the merger between Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young in 1989, Ernst & Young was the largest professional services firm in the world, with 70,000 professionals, including 2,100 partners, in more than 100 countries. Ray’s almost peerless commitment to quality was essential as the firm navigated through the savings and loan industry collapse soon after the merger while setting the tone for the firm’s future growth and expansion.

Throughout his career, Ray demonstrated his unwavering commitment to the advancement of the profession. This manifested itself in various ways, including service as the Chairman of the AICPA while strengthening the Institute’s relationship with the SEC, the Board of Governors of both the NASD and the American Stock Exchange, numerous committees of the SEC, all of which led to his election to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1999. Following Ray’s retirement from EY, his legacy of leadership continued, as he served as Chairman of Legg Mason Merchant Banking and as President, Chairman and Senior Advisor at global insurer Marsh, in addition to serving on many high-profile corporate boards of directors, such as RJR Nabisco, EDS, Boston Scientific, Gillette, and Marsh McLennan.

Ray’s passion for and commitment to higher learning was a constant, and he devoted many years of dedicated service not only to his beloved OSU but to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and to the American Accounting Association, the leading association of accounting faculty. An avid reader and hunter, Ray also loved and supported the opera. Those who knew Ray best describe him as a bold visionary, an exceptional leader and team builder, a superb communicator and better listener and, perhaps most accurately, a loyal and committed friend and partner.

He exhibited these same qualities even moreso with his family. His children and grandchildren have sought to follow his examples of hard work, achievement, honesty, and generosity. He will be dearly missed.

The family will hold a celebration of life in June in New York City. No flowers please, but cards may be mailed c/o Groves Law, LLC, 281 S. Pearl St., Denver, CO 80209.
 

Dr. Rajiv D. Banker

Rajiv D. Banker, a leading accounting researcher, passed away peacefully on March 1, 2023 at his home in Philadelphia, PA. He was 69.

Dr. Banker held the Stanley Merves Chair in Accounting, Information Technology and Management at Temple University. He completed a Bachelor of Science (with Honors) at the University of Bombay where he ranked first in his major field, Mathematics, and his minor field, Economics. He then pursued qualifications in chartered accountancy and cost accountancy, winning several medals for securing top positions in exams. He completed his doctorate at Harvard Business School under Prof. William W. Cooper, with whom he made pioneering contributions to the field of Data Envelopment Analysis.

Dr. Banker had unparalleled talent in identifying and articulating research ideas and mentoring his students and co-authors from scratch to eventual publication. He supervised many award-winning dissertations, and made significant contributions to Accounting, Information Systems, Operations Research and Management Science, with over 480 articles published and more than 65,000 citations. His papers have been published in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, Management Science, Operations Research, Econometrica, Production and Operations Management, Academy of Management Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of Operations Management, and Strategic Management Journal. He also published four books, served as the Department Editor for Management Science, and held numerous editorial positions in journals in several different fields. He was the founding president of the International Data Envelopment Analysis Society (IDEAS) and the editor-in-chief of the DEA Journal.

Dr. Banker was recognized among the top 2% of scientific scholars in the world and was ranked the most prolific researcher in Management Accounting based on publications in the top accounting journals over 6-year, 12-year, and 20-year horizons in 2016. He received the Lifetime Contribution to Management Accounting Award for sustained contributions to management accounting education, research, practice, and service in 2017 and a Notable Contribution to the Accounting Literature Award of the American Accounting Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 2015. His paper was selected as one of the 30 most influential papers on the 30th anniversary of the European Journal of Operational Research in 2006. Dr. Banker was honoued as the first recipient of the W. W. Cooper Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Data Envelopment Analysis Society in 2012. Dr. Banker was a passionate mentor to a legion of doctoral students and junior colleagues.
 

Paul L. Gerhardt
(November 17, 1935 - February 13, 2023)

We are saddened to share the news of the passing of the former American Accounting Association’s Executive Director Paul L. Gerhardt. After managing a small professional association in Chicago, he was hired by the American Accounting Association on April 1, 1966. He was responsible for the Association’s move to Sarasota, Florida in 1971. He served as the Executive Director until his retirement in 1995. Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and former colleagues.

Paul Louis Gerhardt was born in Chicago, November 17, 1935 to Ruth Erck Gerhardt and Ralph Mattes Gerhardt. He joined them in Heaven on February 13, 2023, just missing another Valentine’s Day with the love of his life for over 68 years, Barbara. He died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. In addition to Barbara, he leaves behind his daughter, Katie Gerhardt, son, John Gerhardt, his wife Wendy, his granddaughters, Logan and Morgan, his sister, Carol Horschke, and his lifelong friend, Chuck Goonrey.

“Gig” met his match at the Red Lantern Drive-In in the form of a perky dynamo named Barb who kept him on his toes for the rest of his life. He and Barb attended the University of Colorado in Boulder where he lost a part in a play to his Kappa Sigma fraternity brother, Robert Redford (yes, that one). He served three years in the Army Security Agency with a crypto clearance. During 2 years at headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, he assigned troops and welcomed Katie into the family. After discharge, they settled into their first home in Glenview, IL where John was born. Paul spent five years in foreign sales with Signode Steel Strapping Co. before starting his long career as Executive Director of the American Accounting Association. Because of his love of the water, he worked extra jobs to provide his family with their summer cottage at the dunes of Lake Michigan and moved his family to Florida in 1971 There he built a new headquarters for the AAA near Clark and Beneva Roads, which was named after him upon his retirement. He and Barbara owned the Dolphin Building in downtown Sarasota for 30 years. They also bought, rehabbed, and sold many houses, later dubbing their crew the OFCC (Old Fart Construction Company). They were blessed to live on Siesta, Casey and Lido Keys, and then The Oaks, where Paul played golf as well as being the Mixed Doubles Tennis champion one year. Recently they moved to Lakehouse House West to enjoy a more relaxing lifestyle. Paul was a charter member and elder of Siesta Key Chapel and belonged to the Bath and Racquet Club where many friendships were made. His faithfulness to friends and family showed in his daily actions, especially in his Tuesday lunches with his father and then his mother, until her death at 104.

Paul was a great orator and spoke all over the world at the conventions he organized and other Region meetings of the AAA. He always infused humor into his speeches and knew how to “disagree agreeably”. He also served as President of the Florida Society of Association Executives. He was able to retire early, and he and Barb continued to travel, with summers spent in Cashiers, NC, hiking in his cherished mountains. He wrote a humorous book, “Feline Four” based on his beloved cat, Dusky, and collaborated on “Choice Matters” with Barbara. His other interests were sailing, sports cars, politics, pizza, and naps.
 

Roman L. Weil, Jr.
(May 22, 1940 - February 1, 2023)

Roman Lee Weil, Jr., 82 of Evanston, passed away on February 1, 2023 after a year long battle with cancer. He was born Wednesday May 22, 1940 in Montgomery, AL., the son of Roman Lee Weil Sr., and Charlotte Weil, née Alexander.

Roman was a professor of Accounting at The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, for most of his career and visited at Stanford, Princeton, and UC San Diego, among others. He wrote several accounting textbooks which were used by many of the top US business schools. He received his BA in Mathematics and Economics from Yale in 1962 and his PhD in Economics from Carnegie Mellon in 1966.

He specialized in accounting and expanded access to financial literacy for those serving on corporate boards. He was the co-author of more than 12 textbooks, including the popular "Accounting: The Language of Business." He is highly regarded for his Fisher-Weil duration, a complex measure of bond duration still used today. Outside of teaching, he served as a consultant to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Treasury and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. He also was the chair of an audit committee affiliated with New York Life Insurance.

A prominent area of Weil’s focus was examining corporate governance weaknesses that were exposed by accounting scandals, including the one at Enron. His research found that corporate board audit committee members often had poor financial literacy and did not realize their own gaps. After the Enron scandal, Weil felt it was critical to show why such committee members needed to thoroughly understand accounting when serving on boards. In 2002, he cofounded and organized the Directors’ Consortium, an executive education program for corporate directors that was co-sponsored by Chicago Booth, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He is survived by his three children Alexis Weil (Brad Laesch), Charles Weil (Anne), Lacey Weil Ogbolumani (David) as well as 8 grandchildren Isabella, Lily, Greta, Charlie, Baillie, Allie, Conrad and Emeka.

A memorial will be held on Saturday, April 29th at 10:30am at Bond Chapel on the campus of The University of Chicago, 1050 East 59th Street, Chicago IL 60637.

Jessen Law Hobson
(January 7, 1974 - January 9, 2023)

Jessen Law Hobson, 49, passed away unexpectedly on Monday (Jan. 9, 2023) in Champaign, Illinois.

Jessen was born Jan. 7, 1974, in Boise, Idaho, to Jeffrey and Sandra Law Hobson. He grew up in Boise and graduated from Capital High School. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Chile Antofagasta Mission.

He married the love of his life, Linda Ruth Huband, on April 30, 1996, in the Washington, D.C., Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jessen is survived by his wife and their children, Evan, Allison, Thomas and Claire. Together they lived in Utah, Maryland, Texas, Florida and Illinois. He was fiercely loyal to his family and delighted in them.

He is also survived by his mother, Sandie Hobson, and siblings, Jill (Don) Putnam, Joey (Mindy) Hobson and Jan (Scott) Strobell. He was preceded in death by his father, Jeffrey Hobson, and niece, Alice Strobell.

Jessen was a devoted follower of Jesus Christ and a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as the bishop of a congregation in Champaign and was serving as a member of the stake presidency helping to lead 10 congregations in central Illinois. Jessen spent countless hours in service to others. He always found and served "the one."

In 1999, Jessen graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's and master's degree in accounting. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. in accounting. He worked as a professor of accountancy at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., from 2006 to 2009 and then at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Gies College of Business from 2009 to the present.

Jessen was the director of the University of Illinois Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics and the co-director of the Gies Behavioral Research Lab. He was described as "a tireless researcher who cared deeply about students, and a colleague who was a joy to work with every day." He had been a member of the American Accounting Association (AAA), and was a member of several AAA sections including the Accounting, Behavior and Organizations, Accounting Information Systems, Auditing, and Financial Accounting and Reporting Sections. He was a recipient of the AAA's 2021 Innovation in Accounting Education Award.
 

Eugene Edward Comiskey
(November 22, 1936 - January 6, 2023, 2022)

Professor Eugene Edward Comiskey, 86, passed away on January 6, 2023 in Brookhaven, Georgia.

Eugene was born at home in South Lyon, Michigan. His father, Joseph, a factory foreman, and his mother Genevieve, a homemaker, raised seven children during the Depression and World War II. The day after he graduated from South Lyon High School, Eugene enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served with the HMR363, performing maintenance on Marine Corps helicopters. He witnessed some of the atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll, and achieved the rank of sergeant by the time of his discharge.

After three years in the Marines, Eugene attended Eastern Michigan University on the GI Bill, with the goal of becoming a high school business teacher. There, he became reacquainted with Marlene, a high school classmate. A year later, they were married. Four children came along in the next five years: Beth, Paul, Pat and Mary.

Some of Eugene’s instructors at Eastern Michigan recognized his scholastic talents and encouraged him to pursue a graduate degree. After completing a PhD in Accounting at Michigan State University, Eugene became on Accounting professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana from 1965 to 1980. In the summer of 1980, he brought his family south to Atlanta, Georgia for a new job teaching Accounting at the Georgia Institute of Technology. By the time he retired at age 75, he had become the Associate Dean of the School of Business.

During his career, Eugene won many awards for his excellence in teaching, including the Nicolas Salgo Outstanding Teacher Award ’68-’69 at Purdue University and (multiple times) The Graduate Students in Management Professor of the Year at Georgia Tech. In addition to publishing numerous articles in accounting and business journals, he published several books which were coauthored with Prof. Charles Mulford, including Financial Warnings (1996) and The Financial Numbers Game (2002). He had bee a longtime member of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and served as the Chair of the AAA's Financial Accounting Standards Committee (1996-1997) and was president of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (1995-1996).

Eugene stayed fit by running for decades. He completed in a number of races, including the challenging Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco while he was a visiting professor at The University of California, Berkley for the ’72-’73 school year. In his later years, he switched to a long, daily walk. Most days, he and Marlene would walk a four mile route around their Cambridge Park neighborhood in Brookhaven. Marlene was always an avid gardener, while Eugene enjoyed keeping the lawn neat and trimmed well into his eighties. He loved reading, but only nonfiction would do. His favorite subjects were military history, especially anything to do with helicopters or WWII. He read the Wall Street Journal every morning.

Eugene was preceded in death by: his father, Joseph Bernard Comiskey; his mother, Genevieve Comiskey; his brothers, Joseph Comiskey and David Comiskey and; his sister, Charlotte O’Leary. Eugene is survived by: his wife, Marlene Comiskey; his children, Elizabeth Comiskey, Paul Comiskey, Patrick Comiskey and his wife, Mam and Mary Delaney; his brothers, Richard Comiskey and Michael Comiskey, and his sister, Anne Teoli; his grandchildren, Cory Comiskey and Adrienne Barringer; and his great-grandchildren, Aria, Eleanor, Carver Eugene and Jeren.

The will be a private inurnment ceremony at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Brookhaven, Georgia at a date yet to be determined.
 

Rein Abel
(September 5, 1926 - December 23, 2022)

Rein Abel, cost accounting expert and former Wharton accounting professor, died on December 23, 2022, at the age of 96, at his home in Kensington, MD, from Parkinson's disease.

Rein was born in Tartu, Estonia, on September 5, 1926, to Gustav and Selma (Tomingas) Abel. His youth was disrupted by the Soviet invasions of Estonia in 1940 and 1944, and German occupation 1940-1944. A senior in 1944 at the French Lycée in Tallinn, Estonia, Rein joined the Fliegergruppe Estland, an Estonian-composed air force squadron, to avoid conscription into the German army. Evacuated to Germany in September 1944 in advance of the Soviet occupation, Rein saw his homeland only after Estonia re-gained independence in 1991.

Rein never saw active duty, but was instead captured twice by Soviet troops as the German front dissolved. His second escape ended with a night swim across the Elbe River into the American zone. He spent several years in displaced persons camps in Germany, lastly in Meerbeck, before emigrating to England. There, while working in an iron foundry, he earned a B.Sc. (Econ.) from London University (1952), followed by a cert. in business admin. (1956) from the London School of Economics. At Columbia University (NY), Rein earned an MBA (1960), and a Ph.D. (1967).

From 1954 to 1972, Rein held various accounting positions, including at Arthur Young & Co., in Buffalo. From 1966 to 1972 he taught at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1972 accepted a position as an assistant director of the Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB) in Washington, DC. The CASB promulgated cost accounting standards governing the pricing of government contracts, including defense contracts. In 1980, CASB was dissolved due to pressure from contractors unhappy with the standards' impact on profits, but it was reinstated in 1988. From 1980 to 1991, Rein worked at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), as director, cost and regulatory accounting, joining the Senior Executive Service in 1984. He spent 1982 to 1984 in Vienna, Austria, as head of the accounting and finance section of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on temporary assignment. Rein rejoined CASB in 1991, then a part of OMB, as director of research, and remained there until his retirement in 2005. He was longtime member of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and a past member of the AAA's International Accounting Section.

Rein married Marju Rink-Abel in 1989 and they have one son, Olav. They were first introduced at the University of Pennsylvania, and met again later in Washington, at GAO, where Marju worked and the CASB was based. Marju is active in the Estonian American community and Rein accompanied her on many trips related to this volunteer work, including to Estonia.

Rein will be buried next to his parents in Tartu, Estonia.

Obituary originally published in The Washington Post.

Cynthia Diane Tollerson
(August 16, 1954 - June 27, 2022)

Dr. Cynthia Diane Tollerson, 67, passed away in Falmouth, Maine on June 27, 2022. Cynthia was born to the late Dr. Tandy Tollerson, III and the late Grace Christine Walker on August 16, 1954, at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. She received her primary education from the Department of Defense School system and graduated from East High School, Denver, Colorado in 1972.

Education was always paramount to Cynthia and upon graduating from high school, she went full speed towards her college journey. She received a full ride scholarship to the University of Colorado-Boulder. In 1976, Cynthia earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a Major in Accounting. Her goal was set on becoming a Certified Public Accountant. In 1977, furthering her professional goals, she was accepted into the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at the University of Colorado-Boulder and graduated with an MBA in Finance in 1978. Upon completing her MBA, Cynthia studied for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam and earned her license. She also pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated during college and wore the pink and green very well.

Cynthia began a stellar professional career spanning over 14 years with various positions as Business Development Manager, Strategic Planning and Business Development Manager, Finance Manager, Pricer, Senior Internal Auditor, Program Cost Analyst, Staff Accountant, Internal and Senior Auditor and Senior Auditor. She worked at a plethora of companies such as, U.S. West Communications, Motorola, Inc., Martin Marietta Data Systems, Martin Marietta Inc., Touché Ross, and Arthur Andersen.

In 1992, Cynthia was accepted into the Doctoral program at the C.T. Bauer College of Business, at the University of Houston, seeking a Ph.D. in Accounting. She experienced many challenges within this very dynamic course of study. While working full-time as a Visiting Professor, as well as a Research assistant, she completed her goal. In 2012, Cynthia graduated with her Ph.D. from the University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business, with a Major in Accounting and a Minor in Economics.

Upon completion of her PhD, Cynthia accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Accounting, Department of Accounting and Finance, at Morgan State University, Towson, MD. After several years of teaching and conducting research, she was appointed to a new position as the Harold Alfond Assistant Professor of Accounting, Graduate School of Business, at the University of Maine Business School, Portland, ME.

Cynthia had a passion for teaching, as well as research, and had a variety of publications. She has some research publications that are pending and will be completed in her memory. She had been a member of the American Accounting Association and several Sections throught the years including Accounting Behavior and Organizations, Diversity, Financial Accounting and Reporting, International Accounting, Management Accounting, and Teaching, Learning and Curriculum.

Cynthia was enthusiastic about teaching, learning, and loving everyone. She enjoyed an active and healthy lifestyle, by playing tennis, reading and taking brisk walks. Cynthia was an optimistic person with a ready smile and a joyful infectious laugh. She was a kind, loving hero to her family. They will immensely miss her presence as will her friends, colleagues, and her students.

Cynthia leaves to cherish her in memory, her three sisters and brothers-in-laws. Michele (Thomas), Linda (Ricky) and Patricia (David), a host of nieces and nephews, family and friends: Briana and Jawaan Austin Lewis Niece and Nephew-in-Law, Jesicah and Faith Mitchell Niece and Grand Niece, Kamiliah Mitchell Niece, Shirley Williams Beloved Cousin, Sophronia Williams Beloved Mentor and family friend, Dr. George Gamble Beloved Mentor and family friend.

Cynthia was predeceased by her parents; one brother (Matthew, Jr), several Aunts and Uncles, and cousins. Cynthia was known to many as a loving, caring and giving woman.

Roger Herbert Hermanson
(July 18, 1932 - July 16, 2022)

Roger Herbert Hermanson, 89, passed away on July 16, 2022, two days before his 90th birthday. He was the son of Herbert and Doris Hermanson, and brother of Carol, growing up in Jamestown, NY. Roger never knew his father, who unexpectedly passed away in 1933, and he was raised in part by his grandparents, Gustav and Ina Carlson.

Roger is survived by his beloved wife, Dianne, who has been by his side since 1958. They made a wonderful team, with strengths that complemented each other and with a shared focus on faith and family. Roger also is survived by his daughter, Susan Hermanson, and her husband, Ritner Goff, and by his son, Dana Hermanson, and his wife, Heather Hermanson. Roger’s grandchildren are Katie Ivancevich, Amanda Ivancevich, Tim Hermanson and his husband, Michael Land, and Will Hermanson.

Roger’s remarkable life included a baseball scholarship to Michigan State University, time as a professional golfer, service in the U.S. Air Force in Greenland, a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, decades as a leading accounting textbook author and researcher, service as a Vice President of the American Accounting Association (1987-1989), 10 years on the faculty of the University of Maryland, and 24 years on the faculty of Georgia State University, as Ernst & Young – J. W. Holloway Memorial Professor and ultimately as Regents’ Professor of Accounting. Through his career, Roger influenced the lives of thousands of students, many of whom rose to the highest levels of the accounting profession or accounting academia. In short, Roger lived the American Dream, and his life took him places that he never imagined as a child.

Although his professional accomplishments and accolades are many, what makes Roger’s life so special is how he loved his family and others around him. He gave Dianne 63 years of happiness. They remained best friends and soulmates throughout their entire wonderful marriage. He also gave his children much of his time and attention, always making it clear that family came before career. The family enjoyed traveling together, as well as spending time throwing the football, shooting baskets, playing pool and ping pong, and going to swim meets and horse shows. Susan, Dana, and Heather all followed in Roger’s footsteps to become accounting professors, and they strive to also achieve the balance he showed between professional and personal life. He gave his grandchildren his time, wisdom, and love. Katie, Tim, and Will each have pursued accounting-related careers. Beyond his family, Roger was always quick to help others, whether students, colleagues, friends, or even strangers. He often was the person who people sought out when they needed help or advice.

After retiring, Roger and Dianne initially lived in Atlanta near Dana and his family. In his later years, Roger and Dianne moved to Nevada, then Florida, and eventually North Carolina to be near Susan and her family. Roger and Dianne played a critical role in helping to care for their special needs granddaughter, Amanda. In addition, Roger played a key role in Katie’s life. Some of her fondest memories come from swimming with Papa and the investment he made in making sure she got to school, gymnastics, swim team, and other activities while Amanda was requiring extra medical attention. The investment of love and time that both Roger and Dianne poured into Susan’s family speaks volumes about Roger’s generosity and loving heart. Ultimately, Susan’s family and Roger and Dianne settled in Burgaw, NC and established a horse farm. While not a horseman himself, Roger enjoyed the peacefulness of the farm, and loved seeing how Susan, Ritner, Katie, and Amanda all enjoyed their time with the horses.

Golf was a passion of Roger’s for 60 years, including five years as a club professional and competitor in the western New York area. He had the ability to tell you about every shot he hit in a round he played many years ago. Sometimes he would tell you about the same round more than once. By age 80, Roger’s golf game was quite limited due to a bad hip and the loss of sight in one eye. He played his final three holes of golf on a practice course in Florida. As he prepared to play, he said that he simply wanted to make one par. That’s it – one par. He did not par the first hole or the second hole, and he said to his playing partners, “Can you believe that I almost played in the U.S. Open? I can hardly hit the ball now.” On the third hole, the last hole he ever played, he hit his tee shot just left of the green. He then chipped onto the green, about 12 feet from the hole. As his par putt bounced toward the hole on the uneven green, Dana prayed that the ball would drop into the cup. It did. He parred the last hole that he ever played, much as he succeeded in all aspects of life, right to the end.

We celebrate the life of Roger Hermanson, and we will remember him for his love and his generosity. We will look forward to reuniting with him in Heaven. We thank everyone for their prayers over the last year, and we appreciate the wonderful care he received from several healthcare professionals. He was a fighter until the very end. The family will celebrate his life in a private ceremony at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages anyone compelled to donate to pick a favorite charity and offer a donation in his honor.

Quinn McGowen Funeral Home Obituary notice

Janine Casello Bouges
(June 25, 1962 - June 26, 20222)

Janie Casello Bouges, 60, of Bolton, MA, formerly of Auburn and Worcester, passed away in the comfort of her home, surrounded by the family that loved her on Sunday, June 26, 2022. Janie is survived by her loving husband and best friend, Rick Bouges; a daughter, Abigial K. Bouges of Boston and a son, Wesley R. Bouges and Carolina Navaro of Brooklyn; a brother, Joseph A. Casello of Boynton Beach, FL; two sisters, Jean M. Deters of Shrewsbury, and Mary A. Goyette of Somersworth, NH; two nephews, Robert and Michael Deters; cousins, colleagues, and friends.

Janie was born in Worcester, daughter of the late, Nunzio Casello and Grace (Francese) Casello. Janie graduated from Burncoat High School, later earning her bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, a master’s degree from Bentley University and Doctorate from UMass Amherst. Following her graduation from UMass, Janie began a long career as a professor of accounting at UMass Lowell. She was a certified public accountant and a member of the American Accounting Association, as well as a member of the AAA's American Taxation Association Section. She had also been a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Financial Management Association. Prior to joining UMass Lowell, she held positions in public accounting, private industry and other academic institutions.

Janie was dedicated and compassionate and served for many years on the Auburn School Committee, where she actively participated in bettering education for all students. She was a fervent traveler and was fortunate for have seen countries the world over, including, Italy, The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, and on safari in Kenya, to name a few. She also found great joy in “birding” with Rick, and “bird banding” with Abigail. Donations in her memory may be made to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, by visiting www.dana-farber.org.

John Daniel (Dan) Eshleman
(January 24, 1987 - March 19, 2022)

Dan Eshleman passed away peacefully on March 19, 2022 in the presence of family and dear friends. Dan was born in Williamsport, PA. He and his family moved to Kernersville in 1992. As a child, he enjoyed soccer, Nintendo and board games. Indeed, he enjoyed all kinds of board games that his family played and he regularly attended a yearly game convention with his father and older brother. In his teenage years, he discovered Magic – The Gathering and became an avid fantasy game player. At age 14, he won the state tournament for Magic. He was also an excellent poker player and really liked Texas Hold ’em.

Dan graduated from East Forsyth High School in 2005. He attended NC State and graduated summa cum laude with degrees in Business and Accounting. He then earned a doctorate degree in Accounting at LSU. He went on to Associate Professor positions at Oklahoma State College, Michigan Technological College and Rutgers University (Camden campus). Dan specialized in accounting research and had 16 articles published over the course of his teaching career. (His wife was a co-author on several of these published articles.) During 2020-2021 he and his wife developed a series of stock analyses videos that can be viewed on YouTube under “Investing With Dr. Dan”. Dan had been a member of the American Accounting Association and was also a member of the Auditing Section. His research had been published in journals such as Accounting Horizons, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Review of Accounting Studies, Managerial Auditing Journal, and Advances in Accounting, among others.

During Spring 2021 Dan began experiencing what seemed to be random symptoms of physical weakness in different parts of his body. He was ultimately diagnosed with ALS during the summer of 2021. When his speech began failing, his videos evolved into talks about his thoughts on his illness and life. He is survived by his wife, Peng Guo, and their son and daughter, his parents, Bryan and Susan Eshleman and siblings Robert Eshleman (Heidi) and Christine Eshleman Smith (Stephen), and four nephews and nieces.

The family would appreciate donations to the ALS Association. ALS is a fairly rare and fatal disease and there is great need for further research. Please visit als.org to donate and learn more about ALS.

Kernersville News Obituary notice

Richard William Powell
(June 16, 1952 – March 22, 2022)

Pepperdine Graziadio Business School is saddened to share the tragic news of the passing of esteemed faculty member Richard Powell. Dr. Powell was a member of the Graziadio accounting faculty for more than 25 years, joining the Pepperdine community in September 1996. As associate professor of accounting, he taught numerous courses through the years including financial accounting, managerial accounting, and taxation. He had more than 20 years of consulting experience in the fields of accounting, taxation, law, and finance. He was also a practicing attorney with significant experience in commercial law, real estate, litigation, and taxation. 

Reflecting on Dr. Powell’s life, his colleague and friend Augus Harjoto shared, “Richard was raised in the Midwest from a blue-collar family and proud of being an accomplished lawyer, accountant, and professor. Richard was a good friend and colleague, and his students will remember him as a teacher who believed in teaching valuable knowledge. He loved dogs and was devoted to helping his brothers and sister in time of need.”

Abraham Park remembers, “Richard was a valuable member of our accounting department. He was a hard worker and kind, a dedicated tenured professor, and always had so much to share. He was a great colleague and was always supportive of Pepperdine's mission to the fullest extent.”

Robert Lee shared, "Richard was a caring and kind individual. He was a pleasure to work with and was a great team player within our department. He will be remembered and missed by his students and colleagues."

Lastly, Steve Ferraro said, “I am very saddened to learn of the passing of Richard. I have known him for over 20 years and whether we were working together on research, on committees, or on developing courses or programs he was always on top of things and would contribute interesting and insightful comments. Finding a colleague and friend of his caliber is always a challenge. He blessed many lives and will be missed.”

An accomplished academic and practitioner, Dr. Powell received a PhD in accounting from the University of Arkansas, a JD from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the University of Washington with concentrations in accounting and finance, and a BA from Carroll College. He was a licensed attorney, a member of the Washington State Bar Association, and a certified public accountant. 

As we celebrate Dr. Powell and the extraordinary contributions he made to the Graziadio community, we offer our condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones during this especially difficult time. 

Pepperdine University

Lori Holder-Webb
(1967-2022)

When Lori Holder-Webb was in college, she had a close call with Death. She made a deal with him then, that if he gave her more time, she would use all of that time and waste none of it. She spent her life keeping that promise.

After procuring her Doctorate in Accounting at Texas A&M she traveled north. In Wisconsin, she skated for the first time on a frozen river, discovering in the soaring speed the place where her spirit lived. She was also at home in the cold wind and the speed of downhill skiing, a sport that suited her quick and bold spirit like no other. Apres ski, she could be found with her ski tribe bonding over runs and gear, combining her passion for elite ski gear and locally brewed Vermont double IPA. In summer, she loved the Maine coast, and she never met a lighthouse she didn't like. She and her husband spent time every summer in Maine, where she could find the best hikes, the best beer, and the best kayaking.

She shared a passionate bond with her husband, Jeffrey Cohen, building a life of adventure backed by a soundtrack of Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane. She proposed to him at the top of the Eiffel Tower, which gave him fair warning of what the rest of their time together would be like, as she didn't have time for other people to make up their minds about what she knew was the right thing to do. With him she found and accepted an unconditional love and caring that to her old friends seemed as unlikely as a July snowstorm in Texas.

One of her other great loves was her horse, Huey the Wonder Horse. The two of them had a bond that allowed them speak to each other without speaking, even at a distance. She often regaled her friends with the hilarious things that Huey had told her, and we knew that she was relating these words exactly as she'd heard them.

She displayed her light and fire to the world, and everyone who encountered her knew they were in the presence of the divine spark. This was reinforced by her Hebrew name, Serafina, emblematic of flaming wings that spread light to those open to it.

When the time came, she met Death as an old friend, and he saw that she kept her promise. The memory of her will be with us when we feel the cold wind before the snow in the winter, when we see the fireflies in the summer, and whenever we hear the opening bars of Moonlight in Vermont.

Daily Hampshire Gazette

Paul J. Miranti
(June 29, 1943 - January 13, 2022)

The profession of business and economic history lost one of its most respected, admired, and beloved scholars when Paul J. Miranti, Jr. passed away in January as a result of a COVID-19 infection. Paul was a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he received a BA in history (1965) and then entered the school’s graduate program. His graduate director at that time was Alfred D. Chandler. Paul finished his course work, received an MA (1968), and started a dissertation. Then, however, he had some serious doubts about a career in history. He left the Hopkins program and later entered the Graduate School of Business Administration at New York University, where he received an MBA in Accounting in 1974 and an Advanced Professional Certificate in International Finance (1979). In 1981, he joined the business school faculty at Rutgers University, where he advanced to a professorship and for a time served as an Associate Dean for Faculty and Research.

While he was happy and successful teaching accounting, he decided that accountancy lacked a proper history, and he reentered the history program at Johns Hopkins. By this time, Chandler had moved to the Harvard Business School and I had taken his place at Hopkins. I was pleased to direct Paul’s work on a thesis that he completed in 1985. His study – “From Conflict to Consensus: The American Institute of Accountants and the Professionalization of Public Accountancy, 1886-1940” – was based on a thorough and detailed knowledge of the work accountants do and the manner in which their jobs fitted in the business and economic context of a nation just becoming the leading industrial power in the world. As Paul pointed out, immigrants played an important role in this era of rapid business, political, and social change. The University of North Carolina Press published his revised dissertation as a prize-winning book on Accountancy Comes of Age in 1990.

Now on a tenure track at Rutgers, Paul followed this first book with a steady stream of academic articles, books (both edited and authored), reviews, and contributions to professional programs in both history and accountancy. His explorations of the Bell System’s history were particularly important, as was his History of Corporate Finance (co-authored with Jonathan B. Baskin). When he died, Paul was working on two books and four more articles with various co-authors.

Paul had been an active, long-time member of the AAA, as a member of the Accounting Historians Section, as well as the Government & Nonprofit, and Public Interest Sections. Along with co-authors Nandini Chandar and Deirdre M. Collier, Paul authored the third AAA history book entitled Years of Transition: The American Accounting Association, 1991-2016.

Paul was gregarious, friendly, and loyal. His students said he was a tough grader but they appreciated (as all of us did) his lively sense of humor. We will all miss him, as will his family, which lost Paul and one of his brothers to the same disease in 2022.

Lou Galambos, History Department, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Peter R. Gillett
(November 22, 1953 - December 26, 2021)

Dr. Peter R. Gillett, 68, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, passed away on Sunday, December 26, 2021, at NYU Langone hospital after an unrelenting fight with a rare form of lung cancer.

Born in Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom to John and Elsie Gillett, Peter had lived in London; Lawrence, Kansas; and, since 1996, in North Brunswick, New Jersey. He attended the University of Oxford for his B.A. and M.A. and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas before becoming a professor at Rutgers University, where he taught in the Business School for 25 years. He generously gave his time and talent to serving the Rutgers University Senate, Glee Club, and Kirkpatrick Choir. Peter had been a long-time member of the American Accounting Association and had been a member of numerous AAA special interest Sections including the Academy of Accounting Historians, Accounting Behavior and Organizations, Accounting Information Systems, Auditing, Strategic & Emerging Technologies, Forensic Accounting, and the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section.

Peter had a love of the arts in all forms. Music, especially, played a huge part in his life. He performed with the Kirkpatrick Choir, the Riverside Choral Society in NYC, and the London Symphony Chorus. His home was always filled with music.

Peter was an avid reader and enjoyed discussing literature with those close to him. He had a voracious appetite for knowledge – his interests included mathematics, philosophy, science, travel, history, language, and poetry. His love of teaching expanded beyond the classroom. And he was delighted to share his enthusiasm for learning — and quick wit — at every opportunity.

Peter was a devoted Catholic who attended daily Mass and prayed the Rosary faithfully. He played an active role in his faith community and stood as an inspiration to others. He was an Oblate of the Order of St. Benedict affiliated with Ampleforth Abbey, a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and a member of the Purley Circle of Catenians.

Surviving is his wife of 38 years, Geraldine; his son Nicholas; his son Christopher and wife Alexandra; his daughter Rachel and husband Galo; his two grandchildren Philip James and Rose Imelda; his brother Michael and wife Dorothy; and his sister Catherine.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Just Detention International at www.justdetention.org in Peter’s memory.

(https://www.costello-runyon.com/obituaries/Dr.-Peter-R.-Gillett?obId=23522373#/celebrationWall)

Dr. Laurie W. Pant
(1944-2021)

Dr. Laurie Pant of Burlington, formerly of Andover and the North End of Boston passed away on November 8, 2021. Beloved mother of Casey Pant and his wife Suzanne of New York, NY, and proud grandmother, with her role as "Nana", to her grandson Evan. Sister of William Waldorf and his late wife Joan of Hamburg, NY. Laurie was also devoted to her long-time partner the late Joel Brown. She maintained a meaningful friendship with her former spouse the late Ramesh Pant and his wife Renu of Cambridge, MA.

Laurie’s work with her students reveals her essential gift as a teacher and her commitment towards education. She started her professional life as a teacher in the Brighton/Rochester, New York school system. She shared engrossing stories about her work with students who had difficult lives. Her stories were not self-aggrandizing, but instead revealed how compelled she felt to delve into each difficult situation as authentically and compassionately as was within her capacity.

As Laurie developed professionally, she started to explore the field of Accounting. After working in the field for a few years, Laurie went back to school to get her MBA (Master of Business Administration) and then her DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) while working full-time and raising a family. Instruction and research in accounting is where Laurie found her true “voice” and professional self. She started teaching at Bentley University, then moved to Boston College, and finally settled down at Suffolk University where she ended her career as Professor Emerita.

When Laurie started her career, there were very few women doing research in accounting ethics. She pioneered research in this area as a standalone subject and also the intersection between accounting and business ethics. Laurie authored and co-authored numerous articles published in high-quality accounting and business ethics journals. In addition to her research, she was the associate editor of the journal Issues in Accounting Education. She often said that “accounting was the distillation of human behavior” when it came to understanding business situations. She used accounting as a means of understanding ethical behavior and its impact on business processes and financial reporting.

Aside from her commitment to accounting research, Laurie had a unique way of engaging with her colleagues and students through her sense of humor, understanding, and focus. As a tenured full professor at Suffolk University, she served on various committees including chairing the Promotion, Tenure and Review Committee and the Faculty life and Development Committee. During part of her career she worked tirelessly as chair of the Accounting department. One of her most special qualities was her one-to-one interactions with people. She frequently advised students providing them with honest feedback, meaningful guidance, and substantial support.

In her early fifties, Laurie was diagnosed with Parkinson Disease. Her increasing maturity as an adult, along with the impact of living with a chronic and gradually debilitating disease, led to a shift in her thinking and way of living. Her decisions became more oriented to living in the present moment and taking advantage of the time she had left. She and her partner Joel, who also had a long battle with Parkinson’s, traveled extensively around the world with a love for new experiences. When there was a special event in her life, she did not hold back with regard to making sure celebrations reflected the significance of those important moments. Laurie's diagnosis of Parkinson's also led to her participation as an active board member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association. She participated in many fundraisers, walks, and research projects that were focused on moving towards a cure.

Laurie’s closest family will remember her for her zest for life and how easy it was to talk to her. She could make you feel so special by virtue of her interest in you for who you were as a person. For Laurie, rules were important and had their purpose, but they also needed to be broken when it was done for someone’s well-being or having good, clean, fun. She is pictured by many of her family members eating ice-cream for breakfast. Memories of intimate discussions in the morning over coffee, and larger discussions such as her desire for us to live a fulfilled life, are part of what she has left for us.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Laurie’s name may be made to American Parkinson Disease Association MA Chapter, www.apdama.org, 72 East Concord St., Rm. C3, Boston, MA, 02118.

(https://sullivanfuneralhome.net/tribute/details/3264/Dr-Laurie-Pant/obituary.html#tribute-start)

Dr. Sandra W. Shelton
(1954-2021)

Dr. Sandra W. Shelton passed away on October 4, 2021. A native of Tennessee, she received her PhD in Accounting from The University of Wisconsin-Madison, MBA (Finance) from Indiana University, and BS (Economics) from Rhodes College. She had been on the faculty at DePaul University's Driehaus College of Business since the fall of 1994.

Dr. Shelton was one of the first recipients of the KPMG Doctoral Scholarship. After earning her PhD, she served as a member of the planning committee for The PhD Project, which the KPMG Foundation co-founded in 1994 to address the under-representation of minorities on the faculties of U.S. business schools. In 2014, Dr. Shelton was named to the PhD Project Hall of Fame for inspiring students of color to earn PhDs, which, in turn, encourages students of color to study business.

At DePaul, Dr. Shelton taught auditing and corporate governance classes and published research that focused on judgment and decision-making issues with financial information. She was recognized as Educator of the Year by the Chicago Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors in 2008 and 2014. She chaired the Driehaus College of Business’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which provides recommendations for the college’s DEI efforts. She had also been a member of The Institute of Internal Auditors, Illinois CPA Society, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Dr. Shelton had been serving as the AAA’s Council Representative for the Diversity Section. She was a member of several other AAA Sections throughout the years including Accounting Behavior and Organizations, Auditing, Forensic Accounting, International Accounting, and Teaching, Learning and Curriculum. She also served on the AAA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force. She had published in The Accounting Review, Accounting Horizons, ABACUS, Managerial Auditing, CPA Journal, Advances in International Accounting, Strategic Finance, Research in Accounting Regulation and other academic and practitioner journals. She presented research papers at both national and international conferences.

Dr. Shelton’s efforts have made a lasting difference, says Thomas Donley, interim dean of the Driehaus College of Business. “The many students, alumni and faculty members who have overcome obstacles to succeed—led by Sandra’s example—are her legacy,” he says. “Ray Whittington, director of the School of Accountancy & MIS, and I send Sandra’s family our sincere condolences and join the university community in mourning Sandra’s loss. Her warmth and caring will be much missed in our community.”

Private services will be held in Memphis, Tennessee.

(https://business.depaul.edu/news-events/Pages/2021-10/remembering-sandra-shelton-accountancy-professor.aspx)

Doyle Z. Williams
(December 18, 1939-September 29, 2021)

Doyle Z. Williams, 81, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away Wednesday, September 29, 2021. He was born December 18, 1939, in Shreveport, LA to the late Nuell and Lurline Williams as the fourth of five boys and grew up in northwest Natchitoches Parish. He graduated from Ajax High School in 1957 and received his B.S. in Business and Accounting from Northwestern State University in 1960. After working a year in New Orleans, he attended Louisiana State University where he received his M.S and Ph.D. in Accounting.

In 1965, he joined the faculty at Texas Tech University. In 1966, he met Maynette Derr when she joined the Home Economics faculty after completing her doctorate at The Ohio State University. They were married August 20, 1967, and went to New York for two years where Doyle worked for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Maynette worked for the headquarters office of J. C. Penney, Inc. They returned to the faculty at Texas Tech where Doyle was named Coordinator for the Area of Accounting in 1973.

In 1978, he joined the University of Southern California where he became the founding Dean of the School of Accounting. From 1986-88 he served as Interim Dean of the USC School of Business Administration and served as Chair of the Accounting Education Change Commission from 1989-1993.

In 1993, he was named the Dean of the College of Business at the University of Arkansas. In 1998, the College received the largest gift ever to a US business school from the Walton Family Foundation and the college was renamed the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Upon his retirement from the University of Arkansas in 2005, he was named Dean Emeritus of the Walton College of Business and the university endowed a $1.5 million chair in his and Maynette’s name.

In 2006, he moved to Canton, Ga., where he served for four years as Senior Scholar at Kennesaw State University. From 2008-12, he served as Executive Director of the Accounting Doctoral Scholars Program for the American Institute of CPAs Foundation.

He served as a Deacon in the Redondo Beach, Calif., Presbyterian Church, as a substitute Sunday School Teacher at University Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ark., and at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. He was a member of the Lubbock, Texas, and the Los Angeles, Calif., Rotary clubs with a perfect attendance record for 22 years.

He believed strongly that members of any profession should give back to their profession through active service. His 192 professional offices and leadership service appointments include serving as President of the American Accounting Association (1984-85), a member of Council and the Board of Directors of the American Institute of CPAS and Chair of the Board for the Assembly to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

During his career he made 288 program appearances and presentations. He visited more than 150 university campuses in the United States and served on accreditation teams or as lecturer at 16 universities outside the USA. His 42 awards and recognitions include the AICPA’s Gold Medal Award, the American Accounting Association’s Outstanding Accounting Educator Award and the Lifetime Service Award, induction into Louisiana State University’s College of Business Hall of Distinction, Texas Tech University’s Lifetime Achievement in Accounting Education Award and the Hall of Distinction from Northwestern State University.

In 2012, he was named to the Journal of Accountancy‘s “125 People of Impact in Accounting since 1887.” In October 2020 he was named to The Accounting Hall of Fame by the American Accounting Association.

Surviving are his wife of 54 years, Maynette D. Williams; his brother, Dale Williams and wife Nell; son and daughter-in-law, Zane Williams and Michelle Williams; daughter, Elizabeth Williams; three granddaughters, Camille and Claire Williams, and Sydonna Perdew; as well as many other family members, friends and colleagues.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the University of Arkansas Foundation designated for the Doyle Z. and Maynette D. Williams Endowed Fellowship for a Masters of Accounting Student, the Kennesaw State University Foundation for the endowment of the Doyle Z. Williams Fellowship for a Master’s of Accounting Student, The Louisiana State University Foundation designated for the Doyle Z. Williams Accounting Professorship or the Northwestern State University Foundation for the Doyle Z. Williams Scholarship Fund.

(Obituary from https://www.rockettnettles.com/obituary/doyle-williams)

Dr. Irvin N. Gleim
(November 6, 1942 - July 14, 2021)

On Wednesday, July 14, 2021, Dr. Irvin N. Gleim, peacefully passed away with his family at his side at the age of 78. Dr. Gleim was born on November 6, 1942, in Milwaukee, WI, to Dr. William and Karin Gleim and was raised in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. He received all his accounting degrees (B.S., M.S., and PhD) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He began his college teaching career at Pittsburgh State University in 1966 and then moved to Illinois State University in 1968. Dr. Gleim often would tell his peers in academia that he "didn't need to die to go to heaven, he just joined the faculty at the Fisher School of Accounting in 1971." He retired as a Full Professor at the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida in 1988 and was appointed Professor Emeritus, making him the youngest Professor Emeritus at any AAU member university. The atrium of Gerson Hall at University of Florida is named in his honor.

On May 9, 1967, he married his best friend, A. Darlene Allen, and together they raised three children Larry, Lorie, and Garrett. In 1974, they founded Gleim Publications, writing the first self-study CPA review manual at their dining room table, and using their garage as the warehouse. The popularity of Gleim CPA review materials exceeded their expectations. Dr. Gleim later expanded his product line to include review courses for other accounting certification exams, such as the CMA, CIA, and EA designations. He has helped millions of accountants advance their careers.

In 1980, he began writing aviation test preparation materials to help aspiring pilots earn their certifications. His aviation materials have been used by most civilian trained pilots at some point in their aviation careers. His materials helped so many pilots achieve their certifications that occasionally an airline pilot would see his name on the passenger manifest and ask him for an autograph.

Dr. Gleim was a quintessential professor whose passion was to help students move onward and upward in their careers. He was very welcoming to anyone who sought his advice. He had an open-door policy, and it was not uncommon to find local entrepreneurs in his office asking for his business advice. Dr. Gleim thoroughly enjoyed running his business for the last 47 years where he had the privilege of working with many great team members that made it possible for him to achieve his mission of helping accounting and aviation candidates reach their potential.

Dr. Gleim had a stellar career and received recognition and multiple awards for his many accomplishments, including the FAA's Wilber Wright Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Education from the National Association of Black Accountants. Some of his other career distinctions have been testifying before Congress regarding best auditing practices and having the U.S. Supreme Court confirm an appellate court opinion that was based on his published research.

When Dr. Gleim was not working, he was spending time with his children and grandchildren at Gator games, his local "farm," or his property in Alaska. Irvin loved his family and considered himself to be one of the luckiest people in the world. He attributed his happiness and success to his wife, Darlene, who not only made him an over-achiever, but also their three children and seven grandchildren. It was in Alaska, with his family at his side and the magnificent mountains he loved in the background, where he passed peacefully. He was preceded in death by his father, William, and his mother, Karin. He is survived by his wife Darlene; his three children, Larry, Lorie, and Garrett; his son-in-law, Steve Fuhr; daughter-in-law, Stacey; his grandchildren, Emily, Sara, Spencer, Anna, Lindsey, Preston, and Thomas; his sister, Kerstin; his brother, Holger; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews, all of whom he mentored and cherished. He was also blessed by the friends of his children who became "bonus children" and enriched his life in so many ways.

Donations may be sent to the Fisher School of Accounting, Faculty Fund, Attention: Alison Law at 100 Bryan Hall, P.O. Box 117150, Gainesville, FL, 32611. Please visit his memorial page at: www.williamsthomasfuneralhome.com.

(Obituary from https://www.williamsthomasfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Irvin-Gleim/#!/Obituary)

Thomas Dale Tolleson
(May 15, 1949 - March 1, 2021)

Thomas Dale Tolleson, PhD, passed away on March 1, 2021, after an extended illness. He was born May 15, 1949, to T.W. and Dale Tolleson, in Jackson, MS. He grew up in Pearl, MS, and graduated from Pearl High School.

After High School, he attended Mississippi College in Clinton, MS, earning a B.S. in Accounting in 1971. He then went to study gospel music at Gateway College of Evangelism in St. Louis, MO. While at Gateway, he served as one of the pianists for the college choir, chorale and Men's Quartet. He graduated in 1974 and returned to Jackson to teach music at Jackson College of Ministries (JCM) for a year. While in Jackson, he met the love of his life, Vicki Willhoite, and they married on September 10, 1976. Tommy had moved to Shreveport, Louisiana to be Minister of Music at King's Temple United Pentecostal Church, and he and Vicki lived there for two years.

In 1984, Tommy returned to college and earned an Master of Business Administration at Augusta College in Augusta, GA. Their son, Chaden, was born during this time. After earning his MBA, Tommy began teaching accounting at Augusta College. He then decided to pursue a doctorate degree, so they relocated to Denton, TX, where he attended the University of North Texas and completed his PhD in accounting in 1996. He then became a professor of accounting at Texas Wesleyan University in Ft. Worth, TX in 1997.

In 2014, he was diagnosed with Leukemia and received a bone marrow stem cell transplant with stem cells donated by his sister, Barbara. He recovered and was doing well for a couple of years before he began having other medical issues, including non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and bronchiectasis in the lungs. His health continued to decline and he retired in January, 2020. While teaching at Texas Wesleyan, he was also involved in the music ministry of his church, Way of Life UPC in Hurst.

He enjoyed teaching Cost Accounting because of its focus on day-to-day applications of accounting, as well as Ethics and Professional Responsibilities. He had stated that “It helps students to think about the accounting profession’s big picture and how their personal actions impact others and themselves.” Dr. Tolleson had a publication about corporate government issues featured as the outstanding article in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. His research included studying criminogenics, “how new economy rules change acceptable behavior in corporate board rooms.” He was a CPA and was a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Institute of Management Accountants, Texas Society of CPAs and the American Accounting Association (AAA). He was involved in several sections of the AAA throughout the years including Accounting Behavior and Organizations, Auditing, Forensic Accounting, Public Interest, and Teaching, Learning and Curriculum. He also served as president of the AAA’s Southwest Region (2005-2006) and was a former AAA Council Member (2005-2006).

He is survived by his wife, Vicki, son Chaden (wife Jhenyfer), granddaughter Isabella, who was the light of his life, his mother, Dale, and his sister, Barbara, and numerous cousins, aunts, niece and nephews, and many friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, the late T.W. Tolleson.

Stephen Richard Goldberg
(April 2, 1946 - January 19, 2021)

Stephen Goldberg, PhD, age 74, of Grand Rapids, MI, formerly of Chicago, passed away on January 19, 2021. He was the beloved husband of Doreen, nee Beia; cherished father of Jen, Joe, Ben (Katie) and Dan (Aly) Goldberg, and step-children Tanina (James), Anthony (Kendra) and Paul (Renee) Messina; loving grandfather of Mara Blander, Coby Goldberg-Blander, Owen Goldberg and Daniela Messina; dear brother of the late Gerald Goldberg; former spouse of Pauline Goldberg, nee Finch.

He was a Professor of Accounting at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI, and was the former director of the School of Accounting in the Seidman College of Business.

“This is a deep loss for our GVSU community,” said President Philomena V. Mantella. “Steve’s passion for teaching and his students was well known. Our community benefited from his talents and his presence, and he will be missed. My deep condolences to his wife, Doreen, and family.”

Diana Lawson, dean of the Seidman College of Business, said during his tenure at Grand Valley, Goldberg made valuable and impactful contributions in many areas, including academic scholarship, serving on a variety of committees, leading the School of Accounting and serving on Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation review teams.

“His greatest contribution was to our students,” said Lawson. “Steve taught a variety of courses, but he seemed most excited about developing and delivering the accounting ethics course. We will miss our dear friend and colleague. My deepest condolences to his family and all those who worked with him.”

Goldberg came to Grand Valley in 1996 as an associate professor of accounting and was promoted to professor in 2001. He served as chair of the Department of Accounting & Tax from 2003-2008, and as director of the School of Accounting from 2008-2010 and from 2017-2018.

In 2007, Goldberg won the Glen A. Niemeyer Outstanding Faculty Award, and in 1996 and 1997, he won the Excellence in Research Award from the Seidman College of Business. Goldberg was an active member of the AACSB Accounting Continuous Improvement Peer Review Team.

“Steve was a great friend, a wonderful colleague, and most importantly, a good man,” said Cheryl Dunn, professor and interim director of the School of Accounting. “He worked very hard to enhance the reputation of the School of Accounting and Grand Valley, and worked with leaders in the community (many of them former students) to ensure that our programs stay relevant and of high quality.”

Goldberg earned a PhD in accounting from the University of Wisconsin, an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from DePaul University. He had been a member of The American Accounting Association and had been involved with the Accounting, Leadership, and Programs Section, as well as the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section, and the International Accounting Section.
 

Earl Ray Wilson
(December 19, 1938 - January 17, 2021)

The AAA community and the University of Missouri mourn the loss of Professor Emeritus Earl R. Wilson, who succumbed to the Covid-19 virus on January 17, 2021.

Earl was a past-president of the Government and Nonprofit (GNP) section and recipient of the enduring Lifetime Contribution Award from the section. He was renowned for his research in the municipal bond market. His research is highly cited by fellow academics and has been used by government standard-setting bodies in their deliberative processes. His passion for learning and research acumen led him to serve on more than 30 doctoral committees, helping successfully launch the careers of many professors. However, his commitment to learning extended beyond working with doctoral students to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His interest and expertise in the government and nonprofit sector resulted in his being asked to join the author team on the Accounting for Governmental & Nonprofit Entities textbook. During his tenure as the lead author of the textbook, it was the leading government/nonprofit textbook in the nation and continues to hold that distinction. His innovative ideas and commitment to quality strongly contributed to the success and reputation of the textbook. Earl was also active in the wider profession where a few of his many accomplishments include Academic Fellow with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB); member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, the U.S. Comptroller General’s Advisory Council on Governmental Auditing Standards, and the American Institute of CPAs Government Accounting and Auditing Committee.

Our lives have been enriched through our connections to Earl and we will miss him. We send our deepest sympathies to his daughters, Pamela Wilson and Kimberly (husband, John) Hiley, Columbia, MO, and the extended Wilson family.

Expressions of Sympathy
For those who would like to make an expression of sympathy, in lieu of flowers the family asks that contributions be made to the Earl R. Wilson Doctoral Scholarship in Accountancy at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Checks should be mailed to Mizzou Advancement, 407 Reynolds Alumni Center, Columbia, MO 65211, indicating Earl’s scholarship fund. Alternatively, contributions to a local food bank in Earl’s memory will be appreciated. Condolences and memories may be posted at Earl Wilson Obituary - Columbia, MO.

James Donald Edwards, Sr.
(November 12, 1926 - November 21, 2020)

James Don Edwards, the J.M. Tull Professor Emeritus of Accounting at the University of Georgia and a member of the Accounting Hall of Fame, died November 21, 2020, in Athens, Georgia. He was 94.

An influential accounting educator in a career that spanned half a century, Edwards was an accomplished textbook author, effective fundraiser, decisive administrator, prodigious networker and loyal friend and mentor to hundreds of UGA alumni, accounting colleagues and former students.

A loving husband and father, Edwards is survived by son Jim and Shelley Edwards of Athens; four granddaughters, Chelsea Palmer (Will), Hannah Hamilton (Madison), Kate Cape (Matt) and Ashley Weinberg (Sandler); and great-grandchildren Ben Palmer, Merritt Cape, Hawkins Cape and Wyatt Hamilton. He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Clara Maestri Edwards, brothers Thomas T. Edwards and Mike J. Edwards and sister Irene Edwards Landry.

The son of Thomas Terrell Edwards and Reitha Mae Cranford Edwards, he was the youngest of four children. Born in Ellisville, Mississippi, and raised in Louisiana, he graduated from a class of 10 students at Atlanta High School in Atlanta, Louisiana, in 1944. Near the end of World War II, he served with the U.S. Naval Marines in China, Korea, Japan and Okinawa Island. Following his military service, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University in 1949, an M.B.A. from the University of Denver in 1950 and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1953. He was a certified public accountant in Texas and Georgia.

He met Clara Maestri in 1943 while both were working summer jobs at Peoples Laundry, managed by Clara’s uncle, Richard Maestri. After their third date, they became engaged, but marriage would have to wait for the end of the war after he enlisted in the Navy. They were married on August 16, 1947, at the home of Clara’s parents, located on a street called Lovers Lane.

Edwards joined the accounting faculty at Michigan State University in 1953 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1955 and full professor in 1957. The following year he was named head of the department, a position he held for 13 years. In 1972, after a year at the University of Minnesota, he joined the accounting faculty at the University of Georgia, and in 1976 he was named the J.M. Tull Professor of Accounting — also the first endowed professorship at the College of Business Administration. He was the central figure who secured the endowment from the J.M. Tull Foundation to name the School of Accounting in the late 1970s.

An emeritus trustee of the UGA Foundation for 40 years and an early member of the Presidents Club, Edwards worked diligently to raise funds for academic programs and scholarships. He served on the UGA Alumni Association Board of Directors, the UGA Athletic Board and numerous university committees. He concluded his administrative leadership to UGA by serving for two years as interim dean of the Terry College of Business, during the restoration of Brooks Hall following fire damage in 1995 and construction of Sanford Hall. Edwards retired from UGA in 1998. He was awarded emeritus status in 1999 and kept an office in Brooks Hall until 2017.

Edwards was the 69th member — and one of a small number of academicians — to be elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2001. In his induction, he was honored for forging important links between the academic and professional fields of accounting. He served for a decade on the Public Review Board of Arthur Andersen, reviewing audit quality in 40 countries, and on the CPA Board of Examiners. He was a founding trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation, the parent organization of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

As president of the American Accounting Association in 1970-71, Edwards fostered formation of the AAA’s Commission to Establish Accounting Principles, an effort that foreshadowed the formation of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. He also pushed for the establishment of the AAA Doctoral Consortium and was an early advocate of publication outlets for research on accounting education. He attended a remarkable 60 consecutive annual meetings of the AAA.

He served on the board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and its formative Committee on the Standards of Professional Conduct, as well as chairman of the Georgia State Board of Accountancy and was a national vice president of the Institute of Management Accounting. He also served as an officer and trustee of the Academy of Accounting Historians.

Edwards authored or co-authored more than a dozen textbooks and about 100 research articles on accounting, financial management and accounting history. His first book, History of Public Accounting in the United States, was an important text on the development of the accounting profession. He lectured throughout the United States and abroad — including invited lectures and seminars in Brazil, France, England, Vietnam, Cuba and Ukraine — served as a visiting scholar at Oxford University’s Nuffield College.

Accounting Today named Edwards one of the “100 Most Influential People in Accounting.” He was the first accounting professor to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Paris, and he was the first recipient of the Outstanding Accountant Award from the National Council of Beta Alpha Psi. He was given the Gold Medal Award by the AICPA, and the Academy of Accounting Historians selected him to receive the Hourglass Award for his contributions to accounting history.

From UGA, he received the Alumni Association’s Faculty Service Award in 1989, the Abraham Baldwin Award in 1994 and the Blue Key Award from the Blue Key Honor Society in 2003. In 1998, he was invited to the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate to hear resolutions recognizing his contributions to the field of accounting and the state. And in 1983, he was inducted into the Louisiana State University Alumni Hall of Distinction.

Edwards served on the corporate and nonprofit boards of J.M. Tull Industries, Home Banc, Georgia National Bank, Greenfield Capital, Cornerstone Bank, Georgia Cities in Schools and East Lake Foundation.

The funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, at the First Baptist Church of Athens, with Dr. Frank Granger and Dr. Paul Baxley officiating. Seating is limited to 60 in the sanctuary; provision for an additional 30 persons will be provided in the Fellowship Hall. The service will be livestreamed on the church’s YouTube channel, “First Baptist Church Athens Georgia.” The family will greet friends not attending the service from 9:00-9:30 a.m. Saturday in the Fellowship Hall.

Honorary pallbearers include Tom Cousins, David Dodson, Dr. Charles Eckert, Lillian Giornelli, Dr. Roger Hermanson, Arthur Johnson, Dr. Charles Knapp, Nat Maestri, Bill Mateer, Greg McGarity, David Muia, Peter Shedd, Dr. Harold Sollenberger, and the B&P Sunday school class at First Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made in the name of Don and Clara Edwards to the Caesar and Mary Laverne Maestri Scholarship Fund at the University of Georgia, which provides scholarships for students in the Terry College of Business, or to First Baptist Church of Athens, 355 Pulaski St, Athens, GA 30601.

Paul Miles Clikeman
(July 24, 1960 - November 19, 2020)

 Paul Miles Clikeman was born in Ames, Iowa, on July 24, 1960, to Dr. Franklyn and Janice Clikeman. He was their firstborn, and what a handsome fellow he was. His photo nearly won a “cutest baby” contest. His only sibling, sister Mary, still calls him “her hero”. His mom was a librarian and skilled homemaker. His dad was a professor of Nuclear Engineering at MIT in Boston, and then at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. His father made a lasting impact on Paul, and ultimately the life of an academic was the path Paul chose after being a public accountant with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells in Chicago for three years.

Paul attended Valparaiso University and played saxophone in the marching band. He joined Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity and became its president his senior year. His love of music lasted throughout his life. While he lived in downtown Chicago, he played recorder duets with his fraternity brother, Dennis. He learned to play the hammered dulcimer soon after his marriage to Margaret (Stelzer) in 1991, whom he met in a church singles group back in Valparaiso. His lilting Irish tunes and hymn arrangements blessed their home with peaceful songs. Paul was most proud of his children’s musical accomplishments and encouraged them to cultivate their gifts, from Kindermusik and Suzuki lessons to Lambs of God choir to organ, violin, and voice recitals. One of the highlights of his life was accompanying his daughter Kathryn on three Irish songs at her Senior Recital at the University of Richmond in 2017.

Spending his early formative years in Boston, Paul learned to love the Red Sox; his first aspiration was to be a professional baseball player. He was proud to have pitched his high school baseball team’s first winning game one season. He played church softball as an adult until a broken arm caused him to wisely choose less risky sports, in true accountant fashion. He bowled with many of his UR Business School colleagues on Friday nights for many years, and even on occasion won “The Belt” for highest score. He avidly followed Miles’ stats in Cross Country and Track, and even happily attended John’s college Quidditch Club matches. A typical Sunday afternoon found him watching pro tennis, golf, or NFL games, so he could then relate the memorable plays to his sons in their phone conversations. He could still outdo his sons in Mini-Golf, pool, and cul-de-sac Frisbee Golf.

Paul was a contemplative person who loved to read books of all sorts, often recommended to him by his friend and colleague, Joe Hoyle. His favorite vacation activity was sitting by the lake in Minnesota at his uncle and cousins’ Two Inlets Resort, a frequent family destination. On a Stelzer cousins’ cruise to Alaska last summer with Margaret, and on a family trip to Greece and the Greek Isles in 2009, he relished sitting on the deck of the ship or near a window with his book or watching the scenery. He did not, however, need to go far from home to be content; he was just as happy, probably more so, simply sitting on our back porch with his newspaper and puzzles. As a dad, Paul could not have been more influential and thoughtful. He sang lullabies to his children John, Kathryn, and Miles, and composed dulcimer music in their honor. He read books on the bed with his young children around him or told them stories he made up about “Sheriff John”, “Deputy Kate”, or “Farmer Miles”. They conquered villains who always had to go to jail “until they learned to be nice.” He played Barbies on the floor with his daughter while making up scenarios to navigate, while his Barbie exclaimed, “How am I supposed to walk around in these high heels?!” Paul supported Margaret’s idea to homeschool the children in their early years, and later said, “It’s the best decision we ever made.” He would stay home with them on Wednesday mornings to teach them (and give Margaret a break), making up “Dad’s Diabolically Difficult Math Problems”, listening to them read, or giving them an audience for their writing. He took each child to breakfast on alternating weeks at a place of their choice, a tradition he carried on when they all attended the University of Richmond.

Paul announced upon his arrival after work, “Dad’s home! Let the party begin!” He showed his love for his family in ways large and small. He raked a leaf mountain at the top of the driveway and claimed it to be his “Taj Mahal” of love to Margaret. He would do small acts of service and remind her, “This is one of the many, many ways I show you that I love you.” He prioritized family meals and adroitly commented, “I’ll eat that,” to whatever Margaret would fix. His topping of choice on all soup was Cheez-Its. Culinarily he was not picky; his favorite restaurant from high school on was Taco Bell. Each anniversary, Paul and Margaret would dine at Taco Bell to commemorate their first meal as a married couple, two hours after their wedding reception. He found a compatriot at UR in Joe Hoyle, with whom he shared lunch once a week for 25 years (frequently at Taco Bell).

Paul had a strong moral compass and work ethic. He served on the Board of Directors at Redeemer Lutheran Church and sang in its choir. His family Christmas letters invariably began with a simple, direct statement of his faith: “Greetings in the name of Jesus who was born on Christmas and who died so we can live forever.” He strove to be the best at his vocation while never losing sight of what was most important: “Love your students.” His impact on his students and friends was profound and long-lasting, as shown by the outpouring of grief at his sudden passing.

Paul gave the following charge to his senior Auditing students, upon their graduation:
‘Barry Minkow, as you’ll recall, founded his own carpet-cleaning company (ZZZZ Best) when he was only 16 years old. Reportedly, his goal was to earn enough money to buy a cool enough car to impress a certain high school cheerleader. He also began taking steroids to improve his physique. By his 21st birthday, Barry was living with his girlfriend in a $700,000 house and driving a red Ferrari. He had been praised in countless newspaper articles and had appeared as a guest on Oprah Winfrey’s TV show. His stock holdings were worth $100 million. But two years later, Minkow was penniless, imprisoned, and suffering the effects of his past drug use. The obvious lesson from Minkow’s life is to be careful what means you use to pursue your goals. Don’t use drugs as a shortcut to happiness. Don’t use fraud or other improper behavior to achieve wealth. A far more profound lesson is to select your goals wisely. Minkow pursued strength instead of health. He pursued sex instead of a committed companionship. He pursued wealth instead of purpose. I hope each of you achieves your share of professional and financial success. But I also pray you will seek and find things that are far more important – loyal friends, a faithful spouse/companion, and faith in an eternal God who will sustain you through life’s inevitable problems.’

Paul lived simply and well. He will be greatly missed on earth.

Contributions in memory of Dr. Paul Clikeman can be made to:
Redeemer Lutheran Church
Redeemer Lutheran Church, 9400 Redbridge Road, N. Chesterfield, VA 23236 (check memo: Clikeman Memorial)

or to the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond, Office of Advancement, 114 UR Drive, University of Richmond, VA 23173.

Read more HERE.

G. Peter Wilson
(1946-2020)

 The AAA community is mourning the loss of one of its most distinctive voices – that of G. Peter Wilson – recently retired from Boston College and a Past President of the American Accounting Association. Pete passed away on Saturday, September 12, 2020.

Pete served the AAA as President in 2002-2003, not long after joining the faculty at Boston College, where he held the Joseph L. Sweeney Chair in Accounting at the Carroll School. He retired there, nearly two years ago so that he and Carolyn, his teaching collaborator and life partner, could move closer to their family in Tampa, Florida. His Dean at the Carroll School, Andrew C. Boynton, remembers Pete - as do many of us - as, “the very definition of a ‘master teacher’.”

In recent years, Pete’s commitment to accounting students, colleagues, and the role of accounting in society, led him increasingly into collaborative projects focusing on the future of accounting education and the accounting profession. After serving on the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) he later became a key project leader for the Pathways Commission on Accounting Higher Education where he and Carolyn led the collaboration resulting in the “Pathways Vision Model”. Pete was a generous and talented mentor, speaking and participating in every teaching initiative in the AAA’s last 20 years. Recognizing his dedication and thought leadership in accounting education, he was awarded the AAA J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize in 2016.

Pete was famous for saying that good teaching meant moving from “me to we”. He believed that it is the collaboration – the partnership – with students bringing their insights and native wisdom and commitment to the process – that creates great learning. He was a consummate expert at creating that community – in the classroom and beyond – and now it is up to us – to the “we” that continue – to carry forward his legacy.

We send our deepest sympathy to Carolyn and the extended Wilson family. Information about expressions of sympathy can be found below.

Expressions of Sympathy
For those who would like to make an expression of sympathy, in lieu of flowers the family asks that contributions be made to the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where Pete was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. To learn more about the Center, visit https://give.brighamandwomens.org/stories/ann-romney-center/

You may donate online here or send checks payable to Brigham and Women’s Hospital (please reference the Ann Romney Center):
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Development Office, 116 Huntington Ave., 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02116

Cards may be sent to:
Carolyn Wilson, 4905 Caspar Whitney Place, Unit 202, Tampa, FL 33616  Email: gpwcrw@gmail.com

Read the Boston College Memorial Page HERE.

Debra Kay Kerby
(August 15, 1955 - January 14, 2020)

Debra Kay Kerby, PhD, passed away January 14, 2020 at The Pines Nursing Home in Kirksville, Missouri after experiencing a rapidly deteriorating illness during the last four months. She was born at the Kirksville Osteopathic Hospital on August 15, 1955 to Guy Jr. and Edwina (Whitacre) Kerby of Glenwood, Missouri who preceded her in death. A sister, Judy and a brother, Eddie also preceded her in death. She is survived by sister, Patsy Hart of Moberly, Missouri, brother, John Kerby and wife, Sue of Greentop, Missouri and sister, Connie Henry of Sterling, Illinois plus nieces, nephews, cousins, colleagues and hundreds of students.

Deb was raised on the family farm south of Glenwood, Missouri and attended Queen City/Schuyler County Schools. She began her life-long learning at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Education. She earned a second Master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in Accounting and a PhD from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Business Administration. She held CPA and CMA Certifications.

Deb was a life-long educator beginning her career at Highland High School as a Business Teacher. Selected as one of the inaugural Pershing Scholars, she returned to Northeast (Truman) starting as an Instructor of Accounting. Her 37 year career progressed to Assistant Professor of Accounting, Associate Professor of Accounting, Interim Division Head of Business and Accounting, Professor of Accounting and Dean of the School of Business. She is a past recipient of the Northeast Missouri Alumni Chapter’s Bulldog Forever award. She is leaving a legacy of positively impacted lives of her students and colleagues as demonstrated by the outpouring of love from her Truman family and former students.

Deb’s list of services and publications over the life of her career fills several pages. The awards and recognitions she received over the years are numerous and is another indication of the positive influence she had on so many people. She had been a long-time member of the American Accounting Association and had been a member of the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section for over 35 years. Deb was a huge Truman basketball and volleyball fan. She attended almost every home game through out her 37 years career. If the coaches had asked, she could have given them some very good coaching tips.

Gerald Albert Feltham
(November 11, 1938 - December 21, 2019)

Gerald Albert Feltham passed away peacefully on December 21, 2019 at age 81 into his eternal home. “Jerry” was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to Albert and Marion Feltham on November 11, 1938. He inherited a talent for mathematics and analysis from his parents, both of whom taught in the Moose Jaw public schools, and this talent led him to choose a career in accounting.

He received his Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from University of Saskatchewan, the Nielson Gold Medal from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Saskatchewan and earned his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 1967, he joined the accounting faculty at Stanford University. His first paper, The Value of Information, which was drawn from his dissertation, won the American Accounting Association (AAA) Competitive Manuscript Award in 1968. The enthusiastic reception of the paper by accounting researchers led the Association to publish his entire dissertation as a monograph, Information Evaluation, in a series normally reserved for post-dissertation work by senior scholars. At Stanford, he began a collaboration with Joel Demski. Their first paper, “The Use of Models in Information Evaluation” (1970), received the AICPA’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Accounting Literature. They also produced the book, Cost Determination: A Conceptual Approach, and a group of influential papers including “Economic Incentives in Budgetary Control Systems,” which received the AAA’s 1994 Seminal Contribution to Accounting Literature Award.

He remained at Stanford until 1971 when he returned to Canada to join the accounting faculty at the University of British Columbia. He has authored or coauthored 28 major papers and 4 influential books. His 1994 paper, “Performance Measure Congruity and Diversity in Multi-Task Principal/Agent Relations,” coauthored with former Ph.D. student Jim Xie, received the AAA’s 1999 Notable Contribution to Management Accounting Literature Award. He also initiated and co-authored with Peter O. Christensen an ambitious two-volume work, entitled Economics of Accounting, that contains some 250 rigorously proved theorems, corollaries and lemmas accompanied by careful exposition of their significance to accounting.

His 1995 paper with James Ohlson, “Valuation and Clean Surplus Accounting for Operating and Financial Activities,” which examines the relationship between market values and accounting numbers and has been widely used by those in empirical accounting research. In 1998, this paper was awarded the AAA’s Wildman Medal for Contribution to Research that Impacts Accounting Practice, one of the few theoretical papers to receive this prestigious award. In recognition of his exceptional contributions to research in the social sciences, he was elected in 2003 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

He served as co-editor of Contemporary Accounting Research and Review of Accounting Studies, and many years as a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Accounting Review, and numerous other journals. His many honors and awards include the Canadian Academic Accounting Association’s Haim Falk Award for Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Thought, and election as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. In 1997, he was the AAA’s Distinguished International Visiting Lecturer and received the Association’s Outstanding Educator Award. He was the 75th member inducted into The Accounting Hall of Fame.

Jerry will be lovingly missed by June Holman his wife of 59 years, and his daughters, Tracy Fortune (Darrell), Shari Alexander (Scott), and Sandra Feltham (Peter Nagati), Jerry will also be fondly remembered by his six grandchildren, Kaila and Nathan Nagati, Isaac and Owen Alexander, Brittney (Michael) Piper and Shawnie Fortune, and by his sister, Marilyn (Gary) Davidge, and great grand-daughter Elise Piper.

Click HERE to read the Tribute to Dr. Gerald Albert Feltham by Martin G. Wu. 

 Richard Victor Alvarus Mattessich

(August 9, 1922 - September 30, 2019)

 Richard Mattessich (known by many as Ricco) was born on August 9, 1922 in Trieste, and died on September 30, 2019 in Vancouver. Trieste had just been annexed by Italy after the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in Vienna, and in 1940 he graduated as a Mechanical Engineer (a secondary school degree). In 1944 he completed his studies summa cum laude as a Diplom-Kaufmann (a graduate in business) from the Hochschule für Welthandel, today the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (Vienna University of Economics and Business). A year later, he was awarded the degree Doktor der Wirtschaftswissenschaft (Dr.rer. pol. – doctor of economic sciences) magna cum laude from the same institution.

From 1945 to 1947, Ricco held a research post at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Vienna, and then for five years a teaching position in commerce at the Institut auf dem Rosenberg in St. Gallen, Switzerland. After marrying his beloved Hermi in 1952, he emigrated to Canada, where, after working for a year at an insurance company in Montréal, he spent five years at Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, where he became professor of commerce and economics. From 1958 to 1967, following one year in a visiting position, he served as a tenured associate professor in the School of Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1966 to 1967, he simltaneously held a chair in economics at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, in Germany, but left to become professor of accounting at the University of British Columbia, occupying the Arthur Andersen & Co. Chair during the final seven years, and becoming emeritus in 1987. Along the way, he received a great many awards and distinctions, including four honorary doctorates, and was a visiting professor at universities in Austria, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. He held Italian citizenship from birth to 1970, when he acquired Canadian citizenship; in 1976, he also acquired Austrian (dual) citizenship.

Over a career spanning over sixty years, Ricco wrote or edited some twenty books and wrote more than sixty contributions to books and proceedings and in excess of a hundred journal articles, many of which have plumbed the foundations of accounting theory and the accounting discipline. His immense output of scholarly research, in German and English, has been nothing less than phenomenal in their breadth and depth. Among his most notable works in English have been “The Constellation of Accountancy and Economics” (1956), “Towards a General and Axiomatic Foundation of Accountancy” (1957); his epic treatise, Accounting and Analytical Methods (1964); “Methodological Preconditions and Problems of a General Theory of Accounting” (1972); Critique of Accounting (1995); and Two Hundred Years of Accounting Research (2008), which surveyed personalities, ideas and publications in twenty countries. In Accounting and Analytical Methods and its companion book, Simulation of the Firm through a Computer Program (also 1964), Ricco anticipated by almost two decades the creation of computerized spread sheets (which became popular only after the advent of micro- and desk-top computers in the 1980’s). Finally, in 2013 he completed his book on Reality in Accounting: Ontological Explorations in the Economic and Social Sciences. Numerous of his writings have been translated into other languages.

Ricco’s leanings have mostly been philosophical, historical and comparative – qualities which are amply on display in so many of his important writings.

Hermi, his wife of sixty years, died on December 4, 2012 after a long illness.

(written by Stephen A. Zeff)

John Kaul Simmons
(July 12, 1938 - July 19, 2019)

John Kaul Simmons, 81, of Chesapeake, Virginia passed away on Friday, July 19, 2019. Born on July 12, 1938 in Beloit, Kansas, he was the son of the late Fred Simmons and Bernice Kaul. After entering college with interests in both music and agricultural engineering, John found his passion in the field of accounting, receiving his B.S. in Accounting from Kansas State University in 1960, his MBA from the University of Denver in 1961, and his Ph.D. in Accounting from Ohio State University in 1967. Subsequent to obtaining his doctorate, he joined the accounting faculty at the University of Minnesota. There, he quickly ascended to the rank of full professor and chairman of the accounting department. In 1974, he moved to Gainesville to assume the position of chairman of the accounting department at the University of Florida.

It was his mission to grow the UF accounting program to become one of the best in the country, and in conjunction with that effort, he sought to make the accounting program a school of its own. That effort was successful, and in 1977, he became the founding director of what is now the Fisher School of Accounting. During his tenure at Florida, he was also a strong advocate of the 150 hour requirement for education of accounting students and contributed to Florida becoming the first state to adopt this requirement. In addition, he served as President of the Federation of Schools of Accountancy, Chairman of the CPA Exam Review Board of the National Association of the Board of Examiners of the AICPA, was active in the establishment of the Accounting Education Change Commission, and held the KPMG Peat, Marwick, Mitchell Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting chair. Dr. Simmons was also proud to have served as President of the American Accounting Association from 1989 to 1990.

His numerous professional awards include the AICPA Outstanding Educator award, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants Outstanding Educator Award, the American Accounting Association/AICPA's Outstanding Literature Contribution, the Federation of Schools of Accounting Faculty Merit Award, and the Beta Alpha Psi National Accountant of the Year in Education.

In addition to his many professional accomplishments, John was also an avid sailor and snow skier. In 2007, he moved to Chesapeake to be closer to his two granddaughters. After retirement, he also focused on his faith, actively participating in his church, Great Bridge Presbyterian Church. Survivors include his devoted wife of 59 years, Gail, two daughters, Kauleen in Gainesville, and Laura Simmons Pouloutides (John) in Chesapeake, VA, granddaughters Alexandra and Elizabeth Pouloutides, and brother Richard (Betsy) in Venice, FL.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research or the Great Bridge Presbyterian Church in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Stanley Harold Kratchman
(June 9, 1941 - July 4, 2019)

Dr. Stanley Kratchman passed away on July 4, 2019, at the age of 78. He was born June 9, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Irving Kratchman, a cab driver and dispatcher, and Mildred Greitzer, a department-store clerk prior to her retiring to become a homemaker. He grew up with his younger sister, Elaine. Stanley played basketball as he was so tall for his age. He even earned the nickname "Tree" as a younger man due to his height. He played many sports and would always play with the neighborhood kids whenever possible. He played the accordion and worked in a music store as he grew older and got into high school. He even had a band that played at weddings and other events. After high school graduation, he received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Drexel University and his Doctorate from The Pennsylvania State University.

Stanley met his beloved wife, Diana Horn, in summer school at Penn State through some mutual friends. After a short time, it was clear that this was right for the both of them. They had a short engagement before marrying on June 12, 1971 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A funny, caring, and considerate man, his family and friends were definitely the most important things in his life.

Stanley began his teaching career at a business college in Philadelphia. He also taught at Ryder College, Shippensburg University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Texas A&M University, and Blinn College. He had been known as Stan "the man" on his radio show "Big Band Stage Door Canteen" for KAMU-FM. He was a member of the American Accounting Association and had been involved with the Gender Issues & Worklife Balance (GIWB) and the Government and Nonprofit (GNP) Sections. In 2009, he was a co-recipient of the GIWB Section’s KPMG Outstanding Published Manuscript Award.  In 2008, he received the GIWB Section’s KPMG Mentoring Award. He had also served on the Annual Meeting Program Committee (2011-2012). He was active with the Beta Alpha Psi organization, as well. Stanley loved to volunteer his time and energy to any worthy cause, and was always looking for the next thing. He was acting and participating with Brazos Valley TROUPE. Stanley was funny, with a positive, glass-half-full outlook on life. He was always someone that people liked and was always friendly, sometimes more than he should be. He was always good for a joke or a good one-liner, loving to make others smile and laugh.

Stanley was preceded in death by his father, Irving, his mother, Mildred, and his sister, Elaine Kratchman Schultz. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Diana; their daughters, Michelle Garcia and husband Francis of Brooklyn, New York, and Crystal Dodson and husband Aaron of Kilgore, Texas; his son in-law, Wilbur Charles Luce of Iola, Texas; his grandchildren, Chelsy Mistretta, Georgia Mistretta, Avery Luce, Taden Luce, Chole Ward, Scout Kratchman-Garcia, and Fern Kratchman-Garcia; and by great-grandchildren, Bryce Maldonado and Axl Bostwick.

George Hans Sorter
(December 2, 1927 - May 23, 2019)

George H. Sorter was one of the truly original thinkers in the accounting literature, from the 1960s onward. He was born on December 2, 1927 in Vienna, Austria and died on May 23, 2019 in New York City. He and his mother fled Austria for the United States in 1938. The New York University School of Law (where he taught for many years) has written, “With only two years of high school education, George Sorter entered the University of Chicago as a philosophy major under the Hutchins Plan. Then, after a stint in the Army and a year of medical school, he dropped out and took up tournament bridge, mathematics, English, and logic. Finally, in an abrupt about-face, Sorter returned to school and earned [an MBA] and a Ph.D. in Accounting [received in 1955 and 1963, respectively]. From this decidedly unorthodox beginning, Sorter has built a career as a leading theorist and innovator in the world of accounting. Contrary to popular belief at the time, he held that accounting numbers are not ‘hard’ numbers and do not reveal ‘true,’ ‘intrinsic,’ or ‘fair’ value. Instead, Sorter proposed the ‘events theory,’ which describes accounting as a form of history chronicling the important events of a unit.” Sorter’s “events theory” was first presented in his January 1969 article in The Accounting Review entitled “An ‘Events’ Approach to Basic Accounting Theory.” He followed it up with a book, Financial Accounting: An Events and Cash Flow Approach, coauthored with Monroe J. Ingberman and Hillel M. Maximon, published by McGraw-Hill in 1990.

Sorter’s doctoral dissertation was entitled “The Boundaries of the Accounting Universe: The Accounting Rules of Selection” and was dedicated to “William J. Vatter: The Father of this book and of my ideas.” It was published by Arno Press in 1978. He was an assistant professor, 1959-63; associate professor, 1963-65; and full professor of accounting, 1966-74 at the University of Chicago, and then went to New York University, serving simultaneously as Vincent C. Ross Professor of Accounting in the Stern School and professor of accounting in the School of Law from 1974 to 2003. He became professor emeritus in 2003.

He was an influential member of the American Accounting Association’s committee that produced A Statement of Basic Accounting Theory in 1966, and he was the highly influential research director of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Trueblood Report, Objectives of Financial Statements, published in 1973, which was the template for the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s concepts statement 1 on “Objectives of Financial Reporting for Business Enterprises” and had a profound effect on the conceptual frameworks of accounting standard setters around the world. In addition, he published a number of articles in academic accounting journals.

In 1979, the American Accounting Association honored him with its Outstanding Accounting Educator Award.

George Sorter was one of his kind, an imaginative iconoclast who fought against accounting dogma and saw accounting research as a means to an end: to promote sound accounting policy and regulations. He had little use for run-of-the-mill academic papers that mostly offered meager incremental and mostly methodological turning of the dial but that failed to inform policy. He was one of the first, in the 1960s, to suggest a shifting of emphasis on the objective of accounting from stewardship and “true income” theories to informing stakeholders about the health and prospect of entities.

George was an immensely popular and persuasive teacher and conversationalist. He argued his points of view with unassailable logic. His wit and playful humor were a source of enjoyment for all who knew him. George will be dearly remembered.

George is survived by his wife Dorienne (Lachman) Sorter, his son Ivan Lindgren, his daughter Adrienne Fisher, and grandchildren Samantha, Daniel, Michael, Julia, Eli and Kathryn.

By Joshua Ronen and Stephen A. Zeff

Edmund Outslay
Edmund Outslay passed away on May 20, 2019 at age 67. He was the Deloitte/Michael Licata Endowed Professor of Taxation at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business where he had been on staff since 1980. He was known as a passionate academic, impactful mentor and devoted community volunteer.

“The faculty, staff and students of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems are so saddened by the loss of our colleague Ed Outslay. He has been a positive influence for thousands of students and a role model for his passion and dedication to education. We lost not only a colleague but a friend, the heart and soul of our department. People like Ed are very rare in life, and he will be missed greatly,” said Chris Hogan, Russell E. Palmer Endowed Professor in Accounting and chair of the department. Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Ed gathered a remarkable list of accomplishments. He was the co-author of three tax textbooks, testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and made presentations to the Treasury, IRS and Office of Tax Analysis. He won numerous awards from the Broad College and MSU, including the Distinguished Faculty Award, Presidential Award for Outstanding Community Service, Withrow Teacher-Scholar Award, Curricular Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Award and department teaching and research awards.

“Words cannot adequately describe all of Professor Outslay’s many contributions to our students, to the academy and to the accounting profession. Ed was a consummate academic. He was passionate about teaching and learning, deeply committed to the students, and immersed in the study of taxation,” said Sanjay Gupta, Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean of the Broad College of Business. “As one of his doctoral students, I can say that Ed forgot more about his discipline in a day than many of us have learned in a lifetime. He leaves behind a legacy of what it truly means to be a scholar, teacher, mentor, friend and a gentleman. This a great loss for the entire Michigan State University community and especially for all of us in the Broad College.”

Within the accounting profession, Ed won the American Accounting Association (AAA) lifetime Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Tax Educator Award, the American Taxation Association (ATA) Distinguished Service Award, the ATA Teaching Innovation Award and the MACPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award. Ed also served as president of the ATA (1996-1997) and editor of the Journal of the American Tax Association. He had also been a member of the Diversity, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and International Accounting Sections, and had served on the AAA Council. Recently, Ed earned the 2017 American Accounting Association/J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize for consistently demonstrating the attributes of a superior teacher in the discipline of accounting at the graduate level. He also received the 2018 ATA/Deloitte Teaching Innovation Award for his innovative teaching techniques, which encouraged critical thinking and enhanced the overall learning experience.

Ed enjoyed volunteering his time and was involved in many community programs, such as Lansing’s Meals on Wheels program and MSU’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. He was also an assistant baseball coach at East Lansing High School. After coaching nine seasons at East Lansing, Outslay won the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2003. His interests also included, reading, and traveling to baseball parks and zoos. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Furman University in Greenville, SC, and his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He is survived by his wife, Jane, sons Mark and Jeff, brother, Frank, two granddaughters and several nieces and nephews.

Hubert Darnell Glover
(April 16, 1957 - May 6, 2019)

Dr. Hubert Darnell Glover was born April 16, 1957 in Elmira, New York to Minnie Lee and Gilbert Jenkins Glover. Hubert was the youngest of five siblings: Johnny Salmond, Gilbert Glover, Jr., Sadie Lawhorn, and Raymond Glover. He graduated from Elmira Free Academy High School in 1974, and went on to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California with a concentration in Journalism. He then went on to earn his MBA in Accounting at Clark Atlanta University, and his PhD in Accounting at Texas A&M University.

Hubert married Dr. Roni M. Glover upon graduating at Clark Atlanta University, where they first met. To this union was two children, Jason and Chanel. He dedicated his life to expanding access to education, mentoring youth, and empowering small minority businesses, while succeeding in running a small business of his own, REDE, Inc. He joyfully served as an accounting professor at Clemson University and Georgia State University, was Chair of Accounting at Howard University, and most recently, a graduate professor at Drexel University. In between his time serving in academia, he worked at Arthur Anderson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and served on the board of the AICPA, Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) and other organizations. He has written more than 50 articles for trade publications, professional organizations and academic journals, as well as published a book of poetry and co-authored a leadership book. Hubert was an active member of the American Accounting Association (AAA), having served as a member of Council, and on the AAA Finance Committee, and Professionalism and Ethics Committee. He had served as a selector for the AAA/J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize, as well as served on the AAA's Notable and Distinguished Contributions to Accounting Literature Award Committee and the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award Committee.  He had also been a member of many of the AAA's special interest Sections including the Accounting Programs Leadership Group, Auditing, Diversity, Financial Accounting and Reporting, Gender Issues and Worklife Balance, International Accounting, Management Accounting, and the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section.

Family was his love, education was his passion, travel was his delight and music was his joy. He owned over a thousand vinyl records. He was a man who would funk out to George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, while grooving just the same to The Roots or Amy Winehouse. Music fueled his work ethic and helped him relax through it all.

He departed this life peacefully on Monday at 2:01 am, May 6, 2019, in the quietness of the early morning in Silver Spring, Maryland.

He is survived by the mother of his children, Dr. Roni M. Glover; his son, Jason Glover, and daughter, Chanel Glover; daughter-in-law, Amal Nait Hammou; brother-in-law, Dr. James Simples; sisters-in-law, Mildred Glover, Dr. Patricia Simples, Kelli Simples, and Arlette Salmond. He also leaves, devoted college friends, Donald Hune and Leonard Morris, and a host of nieces and nephews, and beloved former students and professional colleagues.

Instead of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Cleveland Clinic for the advancement of sarcoidosis research, at the fundraising page provided: In Honor of Dr. Hubert Darnell Glover https://give.ccf.org/fundraiser/2099700

Kenneth J. Euske
(February 16, 1945 - August 11, 2018)

On August 11, 2018, Professor Kenneth “Ken” J. Euske died peacefully in his sleep in his beloved home in Pacific Grove, California.

Ken was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 16, 1945, and from an early age displayed the creativity, charm, collegiality, determination, and pursuit of excellence that would be his hallmark for the rest of his life. He worked to earn the tuition to allow him to attend his first choice of high school, from which through academic scholarships and steady part-time jobs, he graduated with honors while being elected class president every year of his attendance. That work ethic and pursuit of excellence took him to Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where he spent a year abroad in Florence, Italy and graduated cum laude with an AB in Economics. This was followed by an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; and a Ph.D. in Accounting from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

Between his MBA and Ph.D. studies, Ken started his professional academic career at the University of San Diego, where he met Nancy, whose lifelong partnership and friendship grew to include many colleagues and friends. Completing his Ph.D. in 1978, Ken joined the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California, which became another lifelong love. In addition to becoming a popular professor, and much sought-after consultant addressing difficult Fleet issues, Ken became a mentor to generations of budding academics and leaders who are making valuable contributions far beyond NPS.

Among his groundbreaking achievements at NPS was the establishment of the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP). Ken was central in developing the initial concept of GSBPP and in implementing it from the ground up. He was its first dean and paid careful attention to grooming his successor. In 2010, NPS conferred upon Ken the title of Distinguished Professor, an honorary title, which constitutes the highest honor that can be accorded a member of the NPS faculty. It is reserved for extraordinary, internationally acclaimed academics vetted by their peers and approved by the president of the university. Ken’s legacy will endure, especially through the endowed “Kenneth J. Euske Dean’s Medal for Innovative Contribution to National Defense.” The medal will recognize and honor the excellence of an MBA student or of a project group in each graduating class.

A leader in the fields of behavioral accounting, management, and control, Ken gained an international reputation for his research, books, top academic publications, presentations, and advice. He was very active within the American Accounting Association, especially the Accounting, Behavior and Organization, and Management Accounting sections. Ken served as President of the Management Accounting section in 2006-2007. His service to the section spans a wider time period, though, dating back to the section’s origins, when he served on the initial Volunteer Committee in 1982-1983. Through the years, he contributed in various and wide-ranging capacities, including service as a member (and often chair) of the Instruction Committee (1983-1985), Research Committee (1985-1989), Conference Policy Committee (1992), Contributions to the Literature Committee (1998-2000), Outstanding Dissertation Award Committee (2004-2005), Nominations Committee (2007-2008), Management Accounting Lifetime Contribution Award (2007-2010), and Impact on Managerial Accounting Practice Award Committee (2008-2009). Additionally, he organized the section’s 1991 Spring Case Symposium, served as the Faculty Development Liaison to the AAA (2000-2002), and was a member of the Journal of Management Accounting Research editorial review board (1991-1995). In addition to serving on the editorial board of numerous academic journals, Ken was the founding editor of Behavioral Research in Accounting, created to fill an important gap in the field. His work is widely referenced and is a testament to the quality of his academic scholarship. Ken also served as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley; Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia; and the School of Accounting at the University of Southern California.

Ken’s broad interests brought him into contact with a wide and diverse circle of friends. He was an avid gardener, a jazz lover, an adventurous and curious traveler. Ken reveled in good food and drink. Ken and Nancy opened their home and hearts, hosting many wonderful dinners with friends. Ken is greatly missed and celebrated by the many whose lives he touched. His life was lived with enthusiasm and joy, enriching those around him.

Donald R. Herrmann
(October 21, 1963 - May 8, 2018)

Donald (Don) R. Herrmann, 54, passed away on May 8th 2018 after a 14-month battle with brain cancer.

Don was born on October 21, 1963 to Richard and Doris Herrmann in Lincoln, Nebraska. After graduating from Lincoln Northeast High School, Don attended Emmaus Bible College in Chicago. He went on to John Brown University where he played tennis and met and married Mary Mugler. Don received his masters degree in accounting from Kansas State University in 1987, worked as an auditor for Deloitte in Colorado, then moved to Stillwater where he earned his PhD in accounting from OSU in 1995. He spent nine years at Oregon State University, where he and his family enjoyed camping in the Cascades and at the beach nearby. Don accepted a faculty position at Oklahoma State University in 2005. In addition to his research, teaching, and textbook authorship, he served in various roles, including department head and PhD coordinator. 

Don had been an active member of the American Accounting Association throughout the years. He served as a member of the AAA Council from 2007-2008. He was also involved with a number of the AAA's Sections: He had been President (2006-2007) of the International Accounting Section, as well as their Treasurer, Vice President-Academic, Advisory Board member, and Publications Committee member. Don had also been a member of the AAA Auditing and Financial Accounting and Reporting Sections.

Don and his family had spent the past 13 years in Stillwater, OK where he was active in the community and loved hosting families and students.

Jerry Arnold

It is with great sadness that the University of Southern California announces the passing of colleague and esteemed scholar, Professor Emeritus Jerry Arnold. Until his retirement from USC in 2014, Professor Arnold had been a member the USC faculty for more than 35 years. Prior to joining USC, he served on the faculty of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, taught at UCLA, University of Michigan and University of Missouri. He was also the founding director of the SEC and Financial Reporting Institute, which promotes interaction among policy makers, their constituencies and researchers in academia. While director, he was responsible for all fundraising activities of the Institute. He not only raised funds from annual conferences that he helped to organize but also by instituting memberships in the Institute from corporations, CPA firms and individuals. As a result of his efforts, the Institute raised over $400,000 during his directorship which allowed the institute to be self-sustaining from its inception. Jerry noted this to be one of his proudest accomplishments.

For many years, Dr. Arnold taught a comprehensive SEC reporting and compliance seminar for the professionals and clients of major accounting firms. He published extensively in business and academic journals and monographs and had been a sought after speaker at conferences and before government bodies. He was known as a leading expert on accounting issues, particularly those related to compliance with US Securities and Exchange Commission rules. He served many times as an expert witness in commercial litigation focusing on SEC and accounting issues, as well as matters involving valuation and assessment of damages. Over the years, he had been retained by the SEC and the US Department of Justice as an expert on accounting and disclosure issues and advised several companies on SEC compliance issues.

Professor Arnold published in a wide range of professional and academic journals and served as the managing editor of Accounting Horizons. He received both an undergraduate and a graduate degree from University of Missouri and earned a PhD in accounting from the University of Michigan.

USC Dean James G. Ellis said "It was a great privilege to have known Jerry over the years. He was plainspoken, candid and always quite passionate in his beliefs. I have met few who cared more deeply about our students, about our university and about the accounting profession than Jerry. We have lost a dear member of our Trojan Family, an accomplished scholar and a gifted teacher."

Jerry is survived by his wife, Karen, his sons, Scott, Matthew and Brent, his daughter, Kelly, and a large extended family. Our deepest condolences go out to Karen and their family.

Nicholas Dopuch
(November 15, 1929 - February 4, 2018)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Gies College of Business alumnus Nicholas Dopuch ’59 MSA, ’61 PhD ACCY, passed away on February 4, 2018. He was 88.

He was a professor emeritus of Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Throughout his career, he had been known as a leading accounting scholar of international renown, a skilled mentor to fellow accounting scholars, and a dedicated teacher.

He was born in 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating high school, he enrolled in Washington University as a part time student. In 1950 he joined the Air Force, where he served as an electronics counter measures operator on a bomber crew.

His time in the Air Force convinced him of the importance of education. In January 1955 he enrolled in Indiana State University, where he majored in accounting and was an exceptional student. Following his graduation from Indiana State, he came to the University of Illinois in fall 1957 for graduate studies.

Upon completing his PhD in 1961, he joined the accounting faculty of the University of Chicago. In 1968 he became the editor of the University of Chicago’s Journal of Accounting Research. He held that position until 1983, when he joined the faculty of Olin Business School, but he remained as a co-editor for an additional 15 years. In his career with that journal, he was well regarded for his insistence on excellence and his willingness to work with aspiring researchers.

He was the recipient of the AICPA Outstanding Contribution to Accounting Literature Award in 1974 and 1982, the American Accounting Association’s Outstanding Educator Award in 1981, the Olin Dean’s Medal in 1994, the AAA’s Outstanding Auditing Educator Award in 1999, and a Distinguished Faculty Award from Washington University in 2004. He was named a distinguished alumnus by the University of Illinois in 1979, and he was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2001, the year that he retired. In 2008 Olin Business School named its long-running accounting research conference in his honor.

Cheryl Lynn Allen
(April 23, 1959 - January 29, 2018)

Dr. Cheryl Allen, a dedicated professor in her 25th year of service at Morehouse College, passed away at the age of 58 on January 29, 2018 in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Allen taught accounting in the Division of Business Administration and Economics.

She came to Morehouse in 1988 after working as an auditor with the public accounting firm, Ernst and Whinney. Dr. Allen found her calling in the classrooms of Morehouse College and devoted her time to her students, stopping her career as a professor only to earn her doctorate in accounting from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in 1998. She had earned a bachelor’s degree from Clark and an MBA from Atlanta University before the two colleges merged.

Dr. Keith Hollingsworth, professor and department chair, called his longtime colleague and friend a stalwart part of the accounting faculty. “She took no excuses, always maintaining high expectations for these young men,” Dr. Hollingsworth said. “She was devoted to them and their well-being.”

Dr. Allen was a former member of the Board of Trustees. She also was appointed as a visiting member of the Board’s Audit Committee.

She served the College by traveling on the Morehouse College International Spring Tour more than 10 times, accompanying Morehouse students to countries such as Egypt, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece, and France. She was also the advisor to the National Association of Black Accountants, and an active member of the Morehouse Business Association, participating often in its Spring Symposium.

Dr. Allen made College history when she was named as Interim Dean of the Business and Economics Division twice. She was the first female dean in Morehouse’s Business Administration and Economics Division.

She taught last semester, and she was on the roll to teach this semester. Her passing was sudden and has left faculty, staff, and scholars shocked and saddened.

Dr. Allen had been a member of the American Accounting Association and served as President (2006-2007) of the Diversity Section. She had been a member of several of the AAA sections including Auditing, Diversity, Forensic Accounting, Management Accounting, and Teaching, Learning and Curriculum. She had also served on the AAA Annual Meeting Program Committee (2006-2007).

Services for Dr. Allen will be held in Chattanooga, TN.

Arthur Ramer Wyatt
(October 8, 1927 - November 17, 2017)

Arthur Ramer Wyatt was born on October 8, 1927 in Aurora, Illinois and died on November 17, 2017 in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was an undeviating defender of principle both in the accounting profession and in standard setting for financial reporting.

After growing up in Aurora, he attended the University of Illinois, in Champaign, where he took three degrees, all in Accountancy: B.S. in 1949, M.S. in 1950, and PhD. in 1953. He wrote his doctoral thesis, “The Influence of Tradition in Accounting,” under C. A. (Tee) Moyer. At Illinois, he became an assistant professor in accounting in 1954, an associate professor in 1957, and a full professor in 1961. Together with Norton M. Bedford and Kenneth W. Perry, two departmental colleagues, he coauthored Advanced Accounting: An Organizational Approach, which came out in four editions from 1961 to 1979. He was devoted to the University of Illinois throughout his long career: as a teacher, a mentor to students, and a staunch supporter of the university’s varsity athletics program. Golf was his passion, and he served as the university’s assistant golf coach from 1952 to 1965. As an undergraduate, he had lettered in golf all four years and was also team captain.

In 1963, he authored Accounting Research Study No. 5 for the Accounting Principles Board, A Critical Study of Accounting for Business Combinations, in which he famously advocated “fair-value pooling” to replace “pooling of interests” accounting.

In June 1966, Art left academe to join the staff of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Chicago, where he became a partner in just two years and then joined the firm’s Accounting Principles Group under the leadership of the venerable George R. Catlett. The Group had responsibility for setting the firm’s accounting policy and advising client partners on the application of GAAP. In 1980, upon Catlett’s retirement from the firm, he became managing director of the Group and eventually also chair of the firm’s Committee on Professional Standards. He was also active in the broader practicing profession, chairing the AICPA’s Accounting Standards Executive Committee in 1977-79 and serving as the Institute’s vice president in 1980-81 and as a member of its Board of Directors from 1980 to 1984.

In January 1985, he left the firm to become a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. But he resigned in September 1987 because of his growing concerns over improper interference by preparer groups in the Board’s process, and he returned to Arthur Andersen as a principal in its Accounting Principles Group. At the FASB, Art voted on a dozen standards: for nine and against three (including SFAS 87 on pensions). In January 1988, he joined the U.S. delegation to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). From July 1990 to December 1992, he served as the IASC’s chair and led it through a challenging period when it was laboring to improve ten of its standards in the hope that they would be endorsed by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and by the SEC as well.

After retiring from Arthur Andersen in 1992, he taught senior-level undergraduate accounting courses at the University of Illinois during the fall semesters for ten years, and devoted the rest of each year to playing golf and attending golf tournaments. His enthusiasm for the game led him to sponsor several young professional golfers.

Art was always active in the American Accounting Association (AAA), serving as Vice President in 1980-82 and as President in 1991-92. He received the Deloitte Wildman Award in 1994 and the AAA Public Interest Section’s Accounting Exemplar Award then as well. In 1998, he was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame at The Ohio State University.

Art had an outstanding career as a teacher, researcher, partner, and standard setter. Yet what marked him as an intellectual leader was his independence of thought and unwavering dedication to principle, as well as deeply held professional values. He was an inspiring presence. Late in his career, he gave an invited plenary address at the AAA’s 2003 annual meeting in Honolulu, which he published in the March 2004 issue of Accounting Horizons: “Accounting Professionalism: They Just Don’t Get it!” He cited chapter and verse of how the accounting profession had lost its way and was “failing to meet the expectations of investors, creditors, and other users of financial statements.” The article was, in effect, his parting advice to the leaders of the big firms and of the organized accounting profession. He hoped it would “prompt a reconsideration of what is necessary to restore the accounting profession to the level of credibility that it once enjoyed.”

Art Wyatt never married. He leaves behind a nephew, six nieces, their children and grandchildren.

(written by Stephen A. Zeff)

Walter P. Schuetze

Walter P. Schuetze passed away on Friday, Oct 27, 2017 at the age of 85. He was the son of Herbert & Loretta Lillard Schuetze of Comfort, Texas.

Walter was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Harry Schuetze and his son Andrew Schuetze. He is survived by his wife, Jean; Children, Brian Schuetze and his wife Betty, and Gary Schuetze; Grandson, Bryce Schuetze and his wife Courtney, and Granddaughter Lori Schuetze; Great Grandchildren, Bradley Schuetze and Annalise Schuetze; Brother Fred Schuetze and his wife Judy; Sister, Annabelle Lindner and her husband Ralph; Numerous Nieces and Nephews.

Walter Schuetze's paternal grandparents immigrated from Germany in the 1890's and they lived on the same farm with Walter and his parents. He learned German before learning English and went on to graduate as class valedictorian from Center Point High School in 1949. He began his college education at Stephen F. Austin State College and transferred to the University of Texas in Austin in 1950 with the intent to major in English and foreign languages. In January 1951, he enlisted in the United States Air Force where he served as a Russian language specialist during the Korean War. Upon returning from the service in 1955, he returned to the University of Texas at Austin, where he took his first accounting class, which kindled a life-long enthusiasm for accounting. He received his baccalaureate degree with honors from the University of Texas in 1957.

Walter began his professional career in 1957, joining the firm of Eaton & Huddle which merged with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co; now known as KPMG LLP. In 1965 he was named a partner in PMM&Co and then in 1973, he left the firm to become one of the original seven members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, serving as a member from 1973 through mid-1976, when he returned to PMM&Co. In January 1992, he was appointed Chief Accountant to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, serving through March 1995, when he retired. He was encouraged to come out of retirement in November 1997, and was appointed Chief Accountant of the Commission's Division of Enforcement and served until February 2000. He served as Consultant to the Commission's Division of Enforcement from March 2000 through March 2002 on accounting, auditing and enforcement matters. Following retirement, he served on various corporate boards of directors and chaired their audit committees.

In addition, he authored many articles on financial reporting and auditing issues of which 43 papers and speeches were published in 2004 in a book titled Mark-to-Market Accounting: True North in Financial Reporting. His writings emphasized his desire for simplified financial reporting.

Chauncey M. Beagle
(March 19, 1917 - October 7, 2017)

Chauncey Beagle died Saturday, October 7 at the age of 100. Born on March 19, 1917 in Forest, Ohio, to Harry and Inez Miller Beagle, Chauncey graduated in 1935 from DeVilbiss High School in Toledo. He attended Miami University of Ohio and the University of Illinois, graduating from the latter with a Bachelors and Masters. He married Ada Jane Henderson whom he met after his junior year at the Hiram Settlement House in Cleveland. They married while he was a student at U of I and Jane a recent graduate. They were married 63 years and had five daughters.

Chauncey's career was generally in public accounting and teaching. During the war years, he was employed by the War Department until he served in the Navy. His accounting jobs spanned Arthur Andersen & Co in Chicago, teaching at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, practicing public accounting in Urbana, and ultimately teaching accounting at the University of Colorado from 1957 to 1986.

He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Boulder Rotary, and various accounting organizations. He was an enthusiastic participant in the Bolder Boulder even into his 90s. He was a devoted father, husband, grandfather and friend. After the death of Jane, he married Nancy Henderson in 2002. Nancy's first husband, Morris, and Jane were first cousins. Chauncey's adult children and Nancy's became a blended family of second cousins. His daughter Barbara Lynn Smith died in 1974 and grandson Gregory Smith in 2012. Chauncey is survived by his wife, Nancy; daughters Cathy Swanson (Jon), Muff Stinson (Ken), Sara Bowdey (Dan) and Beth Smith (Keith Lewis); five step-children Martha Henderson, David Henderson (Sharon), Ann Bothe (Rick), John Henderson (Amy), and Mark Henderson (Machelle); nine grandchildren; eight step-grandchildren; twenty great-grandchildren; and five great-great grandchildren.

The family is very grateful for the loving care of the Frasier Meadows staff and Tru Hospice. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to First Pres Boulder, 1820 15th Street, 80302 or the Beagle Family Accounting Scholarship, payable to the University of Colorado Foundation, c/o Leeds School of Business Development Office, UCB, Boulder 80309.

Kathryn Epps
(October 3, 1969 - September 12, 2017)

The Kennesaw State University Coles College of Business lost one of its most powerful voices with the passing of Dr. Kathryn Epps, Associate Dean and Director of the School of Accountancy on September 12, 2017. Whether for her accounting expertise, her dedication to student success, or her passion for minority empowerment, Kathryn’s loss will be felt across the University. Kathryn joined Kennesaw State University in 2004 as an assistant professor of accounting. She quickly made a name for herself and, in 2006, received the Coles College of Business’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Kathryn became the School of Accountancy’s Director in 2009 before earning the title of Associate Dean of Coles College five years later.

“Kathryn made such an incredible impact at KSU and beyond in a very short period of time,” said Dr. Kathy Schwaig, Dean of Coles College. “When she assumed the SOA director role, she immediately engaged in the life of not only the SOA, but also of the college and KSU, leading many key strategic initiatives across the University.” As the School of Accountancy’s Director, Kathryn worked tirelessly to prepare students for successful futures in accounting. “For Kathryn it was about more than just helping students earn degrees. It was about creating qualified accounting professionals,” said Dr. Richard Clune, current Acting Director of the School of Accountancy who served alongside Kathryn as Associate Director for three years. “She loved the School of Accountancy. That shined through in everything she did.”

One of Kathryn’s major accomplishments was the expansion of Kennesaw State’s Master of Accounting degree from a part-time program into a full-time cohort. The change allowed students to complete the program in just one year with the skills necessary to thrive in real-world accounting jobs. While Kathryn was dedicated to helping all students succeed, she was especially passionate about offering guidance to underrepresented minorities. She supported programs at Kennesaw State and on the national level to encourage women and minorities to pursue careers in accounting. In 2010 she published a report on curriculum and scholarship diversity in Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, and, in 2013, she presented at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants Women’s Global Leadership Summit.

Kathryn earned several awards during her career with Kennesaw State, including the Gary Roberts Faculty Advisor of the Year Award and the National Association of Black Accountants Student Chapter of the Year Award, which she received twice. Her work has been published in multiple journals such as Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Research in Accounting Regulation, and The CPA Journal. She was also Vice-Chair of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business’s Accounting Accreditation Committee and served as Secretary/Treasurer of the American Accounting Association’s Accounting Program Leadership Group.

"The fact that Kathryn was engaged at so many levels inside and outside the University gave her a perspective and insight that few people have,” Schwaig said. “I sought Kathryn’s guidance and advice on many topics and was never disappointed.” With all of her achievements, Kathryn’s most important career goal was the continued success of her students in the School of Accountancy. “She loved our KSU accounting students and wanted them to be successful not only academically, but also in life,” Schwaig said. “Students were always front and center for her."

Schwaig described Kathryn as a natural leader who truly saw the value in her work as an educator. “She wanted to make our world a better, more equitable place and she knew that education was a great platform from which to do so. She will always be a part of us.”

Kathryn earned a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University before earning her Master of Professional Accountancy and her Ph.D. in Business Administration from Georgia State University. She leaves behind her husband Adrian and her three children, Kathryn, Malik, and Summer.

Richard Lee Brummet
(March 16, 1921 - July 25, 2017)

Lee Brummet was born on March 16, 1921 in Ewing, Illinois, and died on July 25, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Illinois State University in 1942, and, following four years in the Army, a Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois in 1947. He was recipient of a PhD degree from the University of Michigan in 1957. Following a year on the Cornell University faculty, he was on the Michigan accounting faculty from 1956 to 1969. In 1970, he moved to the University of North Carolina, where he became the Willard J. Graham Distinguished Professor of Accounting. He retired in 1986.

Lee was the author of Overhead Costing, drawn from his doctoral thesis, in 1957, as well as of numerous articles in academic and professional journals. He was a pioneer in the fields of social accounting and human resource accounting.

He was active in both the American Accounting Association and the National Association of Accountants (today known as the Institute of Management of Accountants, IMA). He was the AAA’s secretary-treasurer in 1967-69 and president in 1974-75. He was the IMA’s vice-president in 1970-71, president in 1979-80, and chairman in 1980-81. In 1975-77, he served on Council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Lee married Nellie Eldora Riddle, known to all as Eldora, on August 6, 1942. She died on June 28, 2011. He is survived by his two children, Carmen and John.

(written by Stephen A. Zeff)

Yuji Ijiri
(February 24,1935 - January 18, 2017)

Yuji Ijiri, former Trueblood University Professor of Accounting and Economics at Carnegie Mellon University, died on January 18, 2017. He was 81.

Renowned for his creativity and engagement with fundamental aspects and role of accounting in society, Yuji Ijiri was one of the most important accounting scholars of the twentieth century. His writings on accounting foundations had a profound impact on accounting research, policy, and practice. His seminal contributions include writings on: the axiomatic foundations of accounting and historical cost-based measurements in particular; the introduction of spreadsheet approaches to accounting; stewardship and accountability; audit sampling; the causal basis of double-entry bookkeeping, its matrix representation, and triple-entry bookkeeping (which he invented). Besides accounting, Yuji made important contributions to economics (aggregation theory and theory of firm size distributions with Herbert A. Simon), operations research (goal programming with William W. Cooper), linear algebra (generalized inverse of incidence matrices), statistics, marketing, and computer science.  Of the more than 200 articles and 25 books he authored, he was especially fond of his 1989 AAA monograph Momentum Accounting and Triple-Entry Bookkeeping. He is the only four-time winner of the AICPA/AAA Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award: 1966 ("Reliability and Objectivity of Accounting Measurements" with R.K. Jaedicke), 1967 (The Foundation of Accounting Measurement), 1971 ("A Model for Integrating Sampling Objectives in Auditing" with R.S. Kaplan), and 1976 (Theory of Accounting Measurement).

Yuji served the AAA in many roles, including as vice-president and later as president in 1982-1983. He received the AAA’s Outstanding Educator Award in 1986 and was inducted into Ohio State’s Accounting Hall of Fame in 1989.

Born on February 24, 1935 in Kobe Japan, Yuji loved the abacus school he went to at age six. He was evacuated to a Temple in Okayama during the war at age nine and studied algebra then. At fourteen, his father Takejiro Ijiri put Yuji in charge of the family bakery’s account books. Yuji passed the CPA exam in 1953, while attending Doshisha Junior College at night. He finished three years at Ritsumeikan University with a bachelor of law degree, completing all requirements for a CPA certificate at age 21, the youngest ever in Japan.

At Doshisha, Professor Taminosuke Nishimura was a great influence on Yuji. Nishimura asked his students to read Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus (Tailor Retailored) and draw analogies. It helped Yuji develop a life-long ability to make deep connections between seemingly disparate ideas, a hallmark of his creativity and thought.

As a CPA, he worked at a small accounting firm and then with Price Waterhouse & Co. before leaving in 1959 to attend graduate school at the University of Minnesota, where he received a master’s degree in 1960. He then studied at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he earned a Ph.D. in Industrial Administration in 1963. It was during these years that Yuji obtained Prof. Nishimura’s permission to marry his daughter Tomoko (Tomo).

Yuji had close working relationships and friendships with three key figures at CMU: William W. Cooper, who was his mentor, thesis advisor, co-author, and third father figure; Herbert A. Simon, who co-authored the book Skew Distributions and the Sizes of Business Firms with Yuji; and Richard M. Cyert, who worked with Yuji on the AICPA’s Committee on the Objectives of Financial Statements (the Trueblood Committee). One of the last papers Yuji wrote was a tribute to Professor Cooper on the occasion of his ninety-fifth birthday, summarizing Cooper’s contributions to accounting.

After receiving his PhD, he spent four years at the Stanford Graduate School of Business before returning to CMU as a full professor in 1967. He remained a central CMU figure until his retirement in 2011.

“Yuji played an instrumental role in the history of the Tepper School and is considered one of the intellectual giants of his era,” said Robert Dammon, Dean of the Tepper School. Established in 1990, the Yuji Ijiri Award for Excellence in Accounting is awarded to an MBA student each year. Upon the occasion of his retirement in 2011, CMU established the Yuji Ijiri Distinguished Lectures in Accounting.

Yuji loved games, toys, and gadgets. His lunchtime relaxation was often an intense game of go with a colleague. He shared his latest thinking with his students in introductory classes. His playfulness, ready smile, gentle manner, caring, and generosity with his time earned him the love and loyalty of legions of students and colleagues.

Surviving Yuji are his brother Haruhisa, wife of 54 years Tomoko, two daughters Lisa and Yumi (both academics), and five grandchildren.

Rebecca Gilmore Fay
(February 27, 1978 – January 2, 2017)

Rebecca (Becky) Gilmore Fay, 38, of Greenville, N.C., formerly of Lynchburg, VA passed away Monday, January 2, 2017 in Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital following a car accident in Roanoke, Virginia.

Born February 27, 1978 in Wheaton, IL, she was a daughter of Philip Gilmore and the late JoAnn Wilson Gilmore. In addition to her mother, Becky was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Joseph and Annette Wilson and paternal grandparents, the Rev. Earl and Ruth Gilmore.

In addition to her father, she leaves to cherish her memory her husband, Patrick Fay and their two children, Erin and Wilson; three siblings, Marty Boone (Chris), David Gilmore (Kim) and Lori Leon; her parents-in-law, James and Alison Fay; sister-in-law, Brenyn Fay; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Becky was salutatorian of her graduating high school class at LCA; completed her Undergraduate and MBA at Liberty University; and received her PhD from Virginia Tech. She was a licensed CPA and worked as an audit manager with Cherry Bekaert before returning to academia. She was presently the Assistant Professor of Accounting at East Carolina University having joined their faculty in 2011. 

Dr. Stan Eakins, dean of East Carolina University’s College of Business, described Becky as “one of the stars of the college.” “She had a tremendous academic future ahead of her,” said Eakins. “She was extremely liked by faculty and students, and a future leader of this college.” Her primary research interests focused on enhancing the quality of audits and accounting education. She received the College of Business’ Scholar-Teacher Award in 2015 for the outstanding integration of research in the classroom. Her work has been featured on the cover of the Journal of Accountancy and has been published in Issues in Accounting Education, the CPA Journal, Managerial Auditing Journal, Current Issues in Auditing, and Research in Accounting Regulation.  In 2016, she was the co-recipient, with Norma R. Montague, of the American Accounting Association’s Issues in Accounting Education Best Paper award for “Witnessing Your Own Cognitive Bias: A Compendium of Classroom Exercises.”

Becky was also engaged with the students. She recently served as the president of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honor society for business students, from 2013-2015 and was also the faculty advisor for Beta Alpha Psi in 2015. “Dr. Fay was very talented and dedicated to her work,” said Dr. John Reisch, professor and chair for the College of Business’ Department of Accounting. “She was willing to work with students outside of the classroom to help promote their intellectual curiosity. Her presence will be sorely missed.”

In addition to her research on auditing, she was the lead author of “Incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into Intermediate Accounting,” a textbook supplement developed by a team of authors from Virginia Tech that has been implemented in classrooms across the country. She has provided IFRS training seminars to accountants and professors, and has contributed IFRS questions to the CPA exam.

Becky was a loving wife and mother who loved spending time with her family. She was a former member of Grace Baptist Church in Madison Heights, VA and her present church membership was at Christ Presbyterian Church in Winterville, N.C. She loved her church and was active in mission work and supporting various missionaries.

Memorial contributions may be made in memory of Rebecca Fay to Ronald McDonald House, 529 Moye Blvd., Greenville, N.C. 27834