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Dr. William Coffey '58 remembers enjoying what
little time he had between school and a job visiting with
other local classmates in the "day hop" room which was located
on the "lower
level" of Carlin.
Accounting
was a major concern for Worcester native William James Coffey '58 when
he first climbed The Hill as a day student in the fall of 1954. Holy Cross did
not seem to share his concern-at least not on paper. Accounting, which was to
become Coffey's vocation and passion, was not offered as a major though the College
offered a registered CPA program. He surmises the problem was rooted in the alphabet.
If "Accounting" had been sanctioned as a major program of study, its alphabetical
prominence would have placed
it ahead of "Biology" in the Holy Cross catalog.
"It wouldn't do at a liberal arts college
to have accounting rather than a liberal art or natural science
listed first in the catalog," he said. "So my degree from The Cross is a Bachelor
of Science in economics even though, de facto, I majored in accounting; but
it all
worked out."
Accounting has remained a major educational focus for Coffey. In fact, his deeper
immersion in financial tracking and reporting spurred him to add many more letters
after his name-MBA, CPA
and Ph.D.-after graduation from Holy Cross. Coffey worked in both public accounting
and the private sector for several years before joining the teaching ranks. He
taught at a high school, a community college and a junior college before moving
on to serve as registrar, then chair of business administration at a four-year
college. He later joined the faculty of the Lubin Graduate School of Business
at Pace University. As his teaching career
evolved, Coffey earned a master's degree in business administration from
the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was later as chair of the business
administration department at North Adams State (now the Massachusetts College
of the Liberal
Arts) that Coffey added the certified public accountant credential and began
working on the doctorate that New York University
awarded to him in 1976.
Today, as a professor
emeritus-in-residence at Pace, Coffey divides his time between
his New York City home and hometown Worcester.
Still busy and committed
to his field, he has moved into a retirement for which he appears to
have planned well. Included in that plan is the charitable
remainder trust he established
in 1996 at Holy Cross. His generous gift to the College was a natural
next step for this accounting professor whose life has revolved
around educating
others
to make dollars make sense.
"People begin too late to prepare for retirement," Coffey said. "They
should start planning early and review their portfolios
as they mature."
Those in a position to do so should consider establishing
a charitable remainder trust (CRT) using long-held securities that have
appreciated in value, according
to Coffey. A CRT offers significant tax benefits that include the elimination
of capital gains tax on the appreciated value of the securities, an
immediate charitable contribution deduction and a reduction of federal estate
taxes.
In addition, the CRT provides a life annuity to the donor with the College
benefiting from the corpus
later on.
To Coffey, the logic behind such a gift to
the College is as simple as ABC-with A standing for accounting, no
doubt.
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