During 62 years teaching at UC Berkeley, accounting professor Alan Robert Cerf touched the lives of more than 13,000 students, according to records he kept of his career at the Haas School of Business.
Professor Cerf was 93 when he died August 24,
His specialty was taxation, and, decades after many of his peers had retired, Cerf was still teaching a taxation class to 60 Berkeley-Haas undergraduates last year.
Prof. Alan Cerf
He held many restigious positions and received several key honors. He served as chairman of Berkeley-Hass’s Accounting Group from 1978 to 1982. Cerf was the first director of UC Berkeley’s San Francisco MBA Program, staffed by business school faculty. In 1984, he received the Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching and Research from the California CPA Foundation.
A strong believer that exercise was a key to a long, healthy life, Cerf was known for assigning a student to lead his classes in a quick round of calisthenics. It was that enthusiasm, energy, and enjoyment for teaching that impressed both students and the faculty.
His family is holding a celebration to honor Cerf’s life Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 from 1:30-3:30pm at Sequoyah Country Club, 4550 Heafey Road in Oakland. The family welcomes all who would like to attend.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Foundation, P.O. Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145-0339
(Note: “In memory of Alan Cerf” in memo line.) Gifts can also be made online at give.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org or by calling 877-499-UCSF.