Bentley University learned over the holiday break that a beloved member of our community, Dick Cross, retired Professor of Accounting, passed away on December 20, 2012 from injuries sustained in an auto accident. The Bentley community will join Dick's family, friends, colleagues and former students to honor his life with a memorial service on February 19, 2013 at 5:00pm in the Wilder Pavilion, located in the Adamian Academic Center. A reception will follow in the foyer.
Through exemplary teaching, fair and rigorous course work, and a deep commitment to students, Dick furthered academic and professional success for scores of Bentley graduates. Commencement 2008 — over which he presided in his long-time role as ceremonial marshal —marked the close of Professor Cross’s long career at Bentley. Upon his retirement from the faculty, the college established the Richard L. Cross Fund for Excellence in Accountancy Education to honor this teacher and mentor whose high standards inspired students and colleagues for almost four decades.
Dick was born in Bradford, Maine and grew up in Bangor. He moved to Boston in 1960 to attend Bentley. He earned associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in accountancy in 1962 and 1966, respectively; an MBA from Northeastern University would follow. As an undergraduate, Dick was a faculty assistant and a member of what was the Accounting Correcting Department. He went on to the Boston office of Ernst & Young, filling the post of staff auditor for three years. In 1969, the certified public accountant returned to Bentley, where he joined the accountancy faculty and remained for the rest of his career.
His contributions have ranged across the institution. These include teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, chairing the Accountancy Department, coordinating the CPA review course, and serving on many faculty committees. In the realm of college governance, he represented the faculty on the Academic Affairs, Institutional Advancement, and Nominating committees of the Board of Trustees. In 1991, Professor Cross took up duties as the school’s ceremonial marshal.
Professor Cross’s unfailing commitment to students inspired several awards, notably, the Gregory H. Adamian Award for Teaching Excellence and the Outstanding Advising Award. His mentoring role extended to coordinating the Bentley Business Bowl case competition and advising student organizations such as Beta Alpha Psi and Kappa Pi Alpha. True to his calling, Professor Cross maintained a detailed log of the students who have filled his classroom through the years. The compilation (known simply as “The Book”) lists some 11,200 individuals, with the attendance date and grade for each student.
His professional memberships included the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs. The Becker CPA Review tapped the professor’s expertise as an editorial board member and instructor. He also taught courses in Boston for the U.S. Civil Service Commission.
Long committed to community causes, Dick was active with the Bay Village Neighborhood Association in Boston; the Doolittle Home, a life-care retirement home in Foxborough; and the Hillel Council of Greater Boston.
We share our condolences with those of you at Bentley who were close to Dick throughout his long and committed career here. His family will schedule a private memorial service for him in Maine in the spring. They have requested that memorial contributions be sent to Bentley University, c/o Randy Shaw, University Advancement, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, Mass. 02452.