In Memoriam: Bill Stevenson 

The School of Business has learned that professor emeritus Willis C. (Bill) Stevenson passed away on March 11 at Attic Angels in Madison. Stevenson retired in 1997 after 30 years with the School of Business.

He authored numerous refereed articles in accounting and taxation in academic and professional journals and co-authored five widely adopted textbooks in taxation.

Before joining our faculty, Professor Stevenson taught for four years at the University of Missouri-Columbia and two years at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. He was also on leave for one year at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. His work experience includes four years of public accounting with KPMG Peat Marwick (formerly Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co.). During the Korean War he served two years in the Army Signal Corp.

While at Madison, Professor Stevenson served on a substantial number of national, state, and local academic and professional committees, chairing several. He was a past vice-president of the American Taxation Association (ATA). Professor Stevenson coached several accounting teams from the school who competed in the Arthur Andersen National Tax Challenges. He was the recipient of the 1996 WICPA Lifetime Achievement in Education Award.

Professor Stevenson earned BS and MBA degrees at The Ohio State University, and a PhD degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

On Professor Stevenson’s retirement, Professor Larry Rittenberg, who then chaired the Department of Accounting and Information Systems, credited him with “providing leadership in our program for over 30 years. In the 1980’s, he was architect of the very successful master’s of tax emphasis. His students found him to be demanding, but in the end were always thankful, because they learned the material and established a foundation for a successful career.”