Dale Gerboth

Mar 21, 1936 -

Apr 8, 2024

Anchorage resident Dale Lawrence Gerboth died on April 8, 2024.

Dale was born on March 21, 1936, in Great Bend, Kan., to Clayton and Esther (Meyer) Gerboth. After living in several tiny Kansas towns, in 1942, the family moved to the small Flint Hills railroad and farming community of Council Grove, Kan., where Dale graduated from high school in 1954. Four years later, Dale graduated from the University of Kansas "with highest distinction" and a B.S. in business administration, major in accounting.

On Sept. 1, 1957, Dale married Virginia "Ginny" Gamble in Kansas City, Kan.

After a brief stint in the Army, Dale and Ginny moved to Cambridge, Mass., where Dale did graduate work in economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his professors were Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow.

Reverting to his undergraduate training, Dale became a Certified Public Accountant, working for accounting firms in Boston and New Yok City. He was also on the technical staffs of the American Institute of CPAs and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. In 1980, Dale was made a partner in the New York office of the accounting firm now known as EY. During Dale's years in public accounting, the family lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Retiring from public accounting in 1990, Dale joined the faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle. In addition to teaching accounting courses, he designed and taught a course in communications for accountants. UW students voted him MBA Professor of the Quarter in 1990 and Outstanding Accounting Faculty Member in 1993. Dale also received UW's Beta Alpha Psi Teaching Excellence award. He retired from teaching in 1995, and in 2005, he and Ginny moved to Anchorage, Alaska.

A prolific writer on accounting topics, Dale authored some 40 articles, book chapters, book reviews and case studies. One article received the New York State Society of CPA's Distinguished Article Award. Another was nominated for the American Accounting Association's Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature.

Everywhere he lived, he pestered local newspapers with letters to the editor, with 63 letters published in Anchorage alone.

Dale enjoyed amateur theater, acting with theater groups in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Anchorage. He was also an avid genealogist, an author of four family histories and a long distance runner with three marathons to his credit. And he briefly performed as a ventriloquist with he "vent figure" Vern.

Dale and Ginny traveled extensively, visiting all 50 states and 26 foreign countries.

Dale was preceded in death by his wife, Ginny; parents; and brother, Don. He is survived by four children, Dr. Gregory Gerboth (Jonna) of Anchorage, Jeffrey Gerboth (Lisa) of Apex, N.C., Mary Bono (Alan) of Antelope, Calif., and John Gerboth (Karen) of Waterford, Conn.; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be held on June 19, 2024, at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church. Memorial Contributions may be made to Amazing Grace Lutheran Church Anchorage, or to a charity of your choice.