Tax Professor Samuel Dyckman Dies

Samuel A. Dyckman, CPA, J.D., LL.M., a longtime tax and accounting professor at Baruch College in New York, has died.

He passed away Sunday at the age of 92. Dyckman received the Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA in Education Award from the New York State Society of CPAs in 2011. He also served as a consultant to the accounting firm EisnerLubin, which later was merged into WithumSmith+Brown. According to colleagues, he was a popular professor who educated many accountants over the years.

“He was certainly one of the most respected and well known people in accounting and was lecturing up until last year,” said Alan Brooks, managing partner of Brooks & Cantor LLP in Lake Success, N.Y.

Dyckman annually attracted large crowds with his lectures at the National Conference of CPA Practitioners’ Long Island Tax Professionals Symposium.

“Since the inception of the Long Island Tax Professionals Symposium 12 years ago, he has taught for us every year to sellout crowds,” said Robert Goldfarb, a principal at Janover LLC in Garden City, N.Y. “He’s done his session eight hours each year, and of the 675 people that attend the program, I would say that at least 575 went to his session. He’s a great guy.” He noted that many of the people who attended the symposium were former students of Dyckman’s from Baruch.

Dyckman graduated in 1941 from City College in New York, which like Baruch is part of the City University of New York. He enlisted in the Army, served in the Army’s Finance Division during World War II and was honorably discharged in 1946. According to the NYSSCPA, he received his CPA certification in 1947 and worked as an auditor until 1963 when Dr. Saxe invited him to join the faculty at Baruch (then known as City College Downtown) and teach about taxes. He also earned a master of laws degree in taxation from New York University School of Law. Dyckman eventually became a full professor of taxation and retired in 1992 at the age of 70. However, he remained a consultant to EisnerLubin and continued to go to his office for a few days every week until recently to stay up to date on tax laws.

He was a member of the New York State Bar, the American Institute of CPAs and the NYSSCPA. Dyckman co-authored several books, including “Estate Planning” and “Corporate Liquidations,” published by the AICPA, and the Study Guide for “Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders,” published by Bittker and Eustice. He received the Baruch College Presidential Excellence Award in Teaching in 1985 and the Outstanding Discussion Leader awards from the AICPA and the NYSSCPA’s Foundation for Accounting Education. He was a member of the Editorial Board of Taxation for Accountants, a former New Decisions Editor of the Journal of Taxation, and a member of the Advisory Board of Prentice Hall Federal Tax Course Text.

He was also a contributor of tax articles and monographs to many publications, including CPA Magazine, Taxation for Accountants, and the Bulletin of American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. In addition to NCCPAP’s Long Island Tax Professionals Symposium, he lectured at AICPA workshops, the Minnesota Society of CPAs, the NYSSCPA, the Accountants Continuing Education Society, and the National Tax Institute.

He is survived by his wife Florence, children Donna and Richard, son-in-law Larry Lefkowitz, daughter-in-law Beth Dyckman, and grandchildren Jodi, Amy, Rebecca, Rachel and Gabe.