STUART KESSLER

1929 - 2019

KESSLER--Stuart. The family of Stuart Kessler, of Ardsley, New York, is saddened to announce the death of Stuart on August 5, 2019, at the age of 90. Stu was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1929 to Anne and Mack Kessler. He was a founding partner of Goldstein, Golub, Kessler & Company, and a former Chairman of the American Institute of CPAs Board of Directors. Upon his death, he was a Senior Tax Director at CohnReznick who continued working with clients and their families until shortly before his passing. Stu was one of the most esteemed and experienced tax and personal financial planning practitioners in the country. In the 1990s, he led the way in establishing the field of personal financial planning as one of the core services of the CPA profession. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Stu was educated at Brooklyn Technical High School and earned his Bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College. He subsequently earned an MBA from Baruch College, a JD from Brooklyn Law School and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University. Stu served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1952 and sat for the first two parts of the 1951 CPA Exam while on active duty stationed in California. On a three day pass, without being able to pay for commercial flights, he managed to find a series of flights from March Air Force Base east across the country, sit for the exam in New York, and return to his base in California minutes before the AWOL deadline. Accounting Today listed him as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in accounting. Money magazine recognized him as one of the outstanding tax practitioners in the U.S., and Worth magazine featured him as one of the country's top financial planners. Stu was an active member of both the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA). Among other notable roles, he served as Chairman of the AICPA Board of Directors, Chairman of the AICPA Personal Financial Planning Executive Committee, President of the AICPA Foundation, and on the AICPA's Governing Council, and president of the NYSSCPA. Stu was honored with the AICPA Lifetime Achievement in Personal Financial Planning Award this past July. Throughout his career, he sought to ensure that women and people of color received opportunities to become certified and active in the profession. To help integrate the accounting profession, he created the annually-awarded Stuart Kessler Scholarship for Minority Students. His kindness, honesty, and acumen made him a role model for generations of younger accountants. Numerous clients became good friends and he was lucky to work with clients such as Samuel Barber, William F. Buckley, Oscar Brand, and Mario and Mathilda Cuomo. Stu was a dedicated member of the Brooklyn Tech alumni, and a Brooklyn Tech Hall of Fame Member. His photo hangs on the Brooklyn Tech Hall of Fame among astronauts and entrepreneurs, proving to Tech students, he liked to say, that studying accounting can make you famous. He ran marathons, three in his fifth decade of life. He was a lifetime sports fan (the Yankees, and track and field), a political junkie, lover of classical music and opera. He loved travel and gardening and was deeply committed to the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, Inc., and the Greenburgh Hebrew Center. He was also a proud American, having traveled to almost every Olympic game for over 50 years to cheer on the U.S. team. Stu was a devoted husband to the love of his life, Isabel Kessler. Isabel and Stu celebrated 62 years of marriage. He is survived by her, their three sons, Glenn, Brad and Jeff, his brother Floyd, daughters-in-law Dona Ann McAdams, Lauren Wadsworth, and Kristina Mustacich, and five grandchildren, Samuel, Jules, Patrick, Morris and Charles. The funeral service will be held at the Greenburgh Hebrew Center at 515 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 at 11:30am on Friday, August 9th. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to any of the charitable institutions supported by Stu that are referred to in this obituary.