Business Professor Walter F. O’Connor Mourned by Colleagues

The late Walter F. O’Connor, Ph.D., at the University Convcation in March where he received a Bene Merenti Medal for his 20 years of service. Photo by Michael Dames

Walter F. O’Connor, Ph.D., professor of business, died on Aug. 24, at his home in New Jersey. He is survived by his wife, Marie O’Connor, and three children, James, Jeannie and Walter Jr.

O’Connor “was a cornerstone of the MBA accounting and taxation program at Fordham business,” according to Howard P. Tuckman, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, and Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the College of Business Administration.

“His enthusiasm for Fordham and his honest, no-nonsense approach to life earned him respect within the academic and professional worlds,” the deans said. “He will be missed greatly throughout our Fordham community. We mourn the loss of such a strong pillar of our school, and we hope you will join us in sending the warmest support to his family.”

O’Connor served as vice chairman and international member of the board of directors at KPMG Peat Marwick before coming to Fordham in 1987. At Fordham, he served as a professor of accounting and taxation and director of the master’s program in taxation. In March, the University awarded him a Bene Merenti Medal for 20 years of service to the institution.

Highly regarded in the field as an expert in international taxation and mergers, he was the author of the textbook Accounting and Taxation (Barron’s Educational Series, 1990), served as editor-in-chief of The International Tax Journal, and was on the editorial board of The CPA Journal. He was a certified public accountant in the states of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia and Louisiana.

O’Connor received his bachelor’s degree from St. Peter’s College, an M.B.A. from New York University and a doctorate from the City University of New York.

Exhibition Celebrates a Century of Fordham University Press

An old royal typewriter is just one of the “artifacts and oddities” on display as part of an exhibition on the centennial of the Fordham University Press. Photo by Janet Sassi

An exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Fordham University Press at the William D. Walsh Family Library Exhibit Hall that features books, information on authors and various milestones from the academic press’s century of publishing will run through Dec. 21.

“This unique exhibition is an attempt to portray through objects and artifacts a chronicle of our life at Fordham,” said Robert Oppedisano, director of the Press. “Our ever-more diverse and distinguished [book] list continues to enhance the University’s mission of excellence in teaching, research and service.”

The Press is the nation’s oldest Catholic university press, founded in 1907 by James J. Walsh, M.D., who was dean of Fordham’s School of Medicine. Some of the things on display include a 1937 publication contract with writer Hilaire Belloc, articles from old newspaper archives and some of the publisher’s rarest book covers.

The academic publisher established its reputation in the humanities and social sciences under its first fulltime director, Robert E. Holland, S.J., in the 1930s. It experienced its most dramatic growth in the decades after the 1950s, publishing more than 100 books during that period. Today, the Press publishes approximately 45 titles per year, with annual sales of close to a million dollars.

Its specialties include philosophy, literary studies, religion, and it has developed a niche market in books on the New York metropolitan region, as well as military and transportation history. In February, the Press hosted a daylong conference commemorating its centennial at the Lincoln Center campus that featured some of the authors it has published over the years.

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