Gary H. Siegel, 62, an associate professor at DePaul University’s School of Accountancy whose research about the changing role of corporate accountants transformed accounting curricula at universities nationwide, died Nov. 12 after battling cancer for many years.

A resident of Chicago’s Peterson Park neighborhood, Siegel had taught at DePaul since 1980. He was the founder of the Gary Siegel Organization, an independent opinion research and behavioral accounting firm. He also founded the Jewish Burial Society, a non-profit community organization that assists families arranging traditional burial rites.

Siegel’s unique background combining expertise in accountancy, business, teaching and sociology fueled a body of research that documented historic changes in the work performed by management accountants and in the enhanced role they play in corporate leadership and decision making. He authored 80 publications, including 25 in peer-reviewed academic journals; a “Behavioral Accounting” textbook; a monograph on “Activity-Based Costing in Healthcare,” and 29 publications in the proceedings of academic conferences. He made more than 180 presentations at academic and professional conferences in America and Asia.

His landmark study, “What Corporate America Wants in Entry-Level Accountants,” served as a catalyst for change in accounting practice and education. The early 1990s study, which was the subject of a Wall Street Journal article, revealed that university accounting students were not being taught the right skills to succeed in the business world and identified the skills required by corporations. In subsequent research, Siegel shed light on the state of managerial accounting in a business environment revolutionized by digital technology.

“We take it for granted that accountants need to have many skills other than knowledge of technical standards and bookkeeping,” said Kevin Stevens, interim director of DePaul’s School of Accountancy. “Gary, through his groundbreaking research on the skills the workforce demands of accountants, was one of the first accounting professors to realize and demonstrate that what the business world needs is accountants who are critical thinkers and problem solvers.”

Siegel excelled as a teacher and family man as well as researcher, said friend Tim Lockyer, a staff member at DePaul’s accounting school. “He was excellent and innovative in the classroom and a fully engaged colleague on the many committees and groups in which he participated,” he said. “Always cordial, casual and affable, he managed to happily balance a distinguished academic position, an impressive professional career, and a very large, very traditional family. We will miss Gary, his smile and sense of humor, and his many contributions.”

Siegel received the Institute of Management Accountants James Bulloch Award in 2004 and its R. Lee Brummet Distinguished Award for Educators in 2005. He also was chosen for a Special Award of Merit from the Illinois CPA Society. In 1999 he was recognized with a Faculty Excellence Award from Ledger & Quill, DePaul’s accountancy alumni organization.

Siegel earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1966 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and passed the exam to become a certified public accountant that same year. In addition to teaching at DePaul, he was an alumnus of its business school, where he earned an MBA in accountancy in 1967. He received his doctoral degree in sociology with a minor in economics from U of I in 1977.

While at U of I, Siegel founded Food Conspiracy, a food-buying cooperative that brought truckloads of fresh produce to the “counter-culture” community. Continuing this community organizing work after college, Siegel and his wife, Beverly and friends Larry and Marsha Drury founded the Jewish Burial Society. Siegel ran the community service organization, without pay, as its president for 31 years.

“Jewish tradition emphasizes simplicity in burial rites – it forbids embalming, open viewing and metal caskets,” Beverly Siegel explained. “Gary was inspired to found a funeral cooperative to protect bereaved families as a result of a 1975 television special documenting a Federal Trade Commissions investigation into abuses in the funeral industry. He set up the JBS to operate as a kind of collective bargaining agent to help families obtain traditional funerals at a reasonable price and to spare them from guilt-provoking sales tactics designed to sell costly extras as a way to ‘honor your loved one.’”

The Jewish Burial Society has made a major impact on the way Jewish funerals are conducted in the Chicago area. Wood caskets and graveside services have become much more common. The not-for-profit organization saved nearly 2,000 families many thousands of dollars and earned Siegel a unique position of respect in Chicago’s Jewish community, his wife said. Any surplus revenues were donated to schools and other projects that further Jewish education.

“Gary led the way in making traditional Jewish funerals accessible and affordable at a time when they weren’t,” said David Jacobson, founder of Chicago Jewish Funerals.

Diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997, Siegel underwent six operations but continued to inspire everyone around him with his strength and positive outlook, his wife said. During the last month of his life, which he spent at Evanston Hospital, he wrote reflections on his life that were read at his funeral to an overflow crowd at the Congregation Kehillath Jacob Beth Samuel synagogue on the North Side. Burial took place in Israel.

Siegel and his wife of 38 years, Beverly, have six children – Rabbi Adam (Miriam) Siegel; Joshua Siegel; Sunny (Daniel) Levi, Gabriel (Orit) Siegel, Johanna Siegel and Samantha Siegel – and nine grandchildren. In the early ‘80s, the Siegels were featured in a documentary titled “Blind Love: The Story of Josh,” focusing on their second son, who was born with disabilities. Co-produced by Beverly, the show won for WMAQ-TV a Chicago Emmy Award for Public Affairs programming.

In addition to his children and grandchildren, survivors include his mother, Miriam, and brother Mark (Rafaella) Siegel.

To access a photo of Gary Siegel, click here.