Longtime accounting teacher dies

  Tuesday, December 19, 2017 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Longtime accounting teacher dies

Don Cash Sr., a retired faculty member who taught in the Kelce College of Buisness for 30 years and served as a department chair for 10, died earlier this month after battling Parkinson's Disease and cancer.

Former students and faculty remember him as being passionate about his subject matter 

Cash, 87, passed away on Dec. 5, in Independence, Missouri, where he and his wife, Mary, had moved in 2014 to live in a retirement community. Mary, who had a long career teaching history and social science at Pittsburg High School, died just a few months after the move. 

The couple came to Pittsburg with their six children in 1966, when Cash joined the faculty at PSU. Cash taught accounting as an associate professor, serving as chair of the Accounting Department until his retirement in 1996. He held professional memberships in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Kansas Society of CPAs.  

David O'Bryan had Cash as both a teacher and a supervisor. 

"I had him for a class," said O'Bryan, who graduated with his bachelor's in 1985 and his master's in 1986. "And he was chair when I returned as full-time faculty member in 1992. The constant that I remember most was that he was passionate about us having a high-quality accounting program at PSU – as passionate as anybody could be." 

Cash was tough, O'Bryan recalled. 

"It was a difficult class, but 10 years later I realized how very much I had learned – a tremendous amount," he said. "He wasn't afraid to let you find the answers on your own – that's part of what made it a good learning experience." 

Cash also was very active in the community, particularly in civic organizations, including serving as president of Sunflower Kiwanis, in leadership roles for the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce and Business Incentives Task Force, on the Habitat for Humanity Board, and in Boy Scouts. Don was elected to a four-year term on the Pittsburg City Commission in 1997, serving as mayor from 1998 to 1999. He and his wife both were active leaders in their church. 

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on Jan. 6 at Community of Christ Church, 701 S. Walnut Street, Pittsburg, where he and Mary both were active leaders until their move from Pittsburg. 
 
The family has requested donations in Don's memory be made to The Don Cash Accounting Development Fund, 205 Russ Hall, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS 66762-7547. 


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