Colleagues,

I share with you the sad news that Jerome “Jerry” Leer, Professor Emeritus of Accounting, passed away on June 3, 2019, at the age of 99.

Professor Leer joined the faculty of UW-Milwaukee years before its official creation and taught accounting for 37 years before retiring from the School of Business in 1983. He was one of two founding faculty members in the accounting program when UW-Milwaukee opened in 1956. In the 1970s, he was one of the first to use closed-circuit TV to instruct more than 1,000 students in 33 sections of one class. Professor Leer designed the Master of Science taxation program at the Lubar School of Business, and co-authored Advanced Accounting, which is still a leading textbook today, with two other faculty members: William Taylor and Paul Fischer.

Professor Leer was described as a model for professionalism, integrity and honesty. He expected high standards of academic performance from his students and encouraged them to excel. When Professor Leer retired in 1983, his former student and teaching assistant Peter Tellier established the Jerry Leer/In Memory of Roy H. Tellier Sr. Scholarship in honor of Jerry and Peter’s father, Roy. Since then, former students and their friends, many retired now, too, have raised more than $1 million toward full-tuition scholarships. The largest scholarship created in honor of a faculty member at UWM, it has supported nearly 200 students in the past 36 years.

Professor Leer’s obituary is online. A memorial service will be held at UWM in the fall, and more information on the service will be shared when it is available. Memorial gifts can be made to the UWM Foundation for the Jerry Leer/In Memory of Roy H. Tellier Sr. Scholarship, 1440 East North Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202.

Our condolences to Jerry’s family and to the many others whose lives he touched.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs