A Kent State author and former chair of the department of accounting died at home last Sunday.

Dick Brown began his career at Kent State in 1984. He served as the Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs for the College of Business Administration from 1991 to 1994 and had held his most recent position since 2000.

Linda Zucca, associate professor and interim chair for the department of accounting, has held Brown’s position since he left on medical leave in January. She said Brown was known for his good principles and good ethics.

Zucca said Brown’s work focused on government accounting.

She said Brown had the ability to look ahead and focus on his visions for the future.

“He was a good manager and a good friend,” Zucca said. “It’s really hard to believe he’s gone.”

David Young, associate treasurer of financial affairs, said Brown was a “consensus builder” whom Young met while working as a part-time instructor.

“He had the ability to treat every body the same whether he was talking to the president of the university or a part-time student,” Young said.

Young said one of Brown’s closest friends in the department was accounting lecturer Don McFall.

“I thought the world of Dick Brown,” McFall said. “He was one of the most principled men I’ve ever met.”

He credited the success of the accounting department to Brown’s ability to get all faculty and staff members to work together.

“From the department secretary to the most tenured member we had, everybody respected him because he treated everybody else with respect,” McFall said.

He said the department is stronger and better because of Brown’s influence.

“The hope is that we’re going to be able to carry on his legacy,” McFall said.

Brown wrote “The Rose Engagement,” which had the qualities of a novel and a textbook. McFall described Brown’s novel as “a murder mystery full of accounting terminology” that Brown used in his classes. He also wrote an unpublished follow-up novel.

McFall said he doesn’t know when the department will find a replacement for Brown, but he’s thankful that Zucca fulfilled the role of interim chair.

Contact general assignment reporter Bo Gemmell at [email protected].