Ed Outslay, Deloitte/Michael Licata Endowed Professor of Taxation, mentor and friend
On May 20, the Broad College lost a beloved friend and mentor: Ed Outslay, Deloitte/Michael Licata Endowed Professor of Taxation.
During his tenure at the college from 1980 to 2019, Ed was known as a passionate academic, impactful mentor and devoted community volunteer.
“The faculty, staff and students of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems are so saddened by the loss of our colleague Ed Outslay. He has been a positive influence for thousands of students and a role model for his passion and dedication to education. We lost not only a colleague but a friend, the heart and soul of our department. People like Ed are very rare in life, and he will be missed greatly,” said Chris Hogan, Russell E. Palmer Endowed Professor in Accounting and chair of the department.
Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Ed gathered a remarkable list of accomplishments. He was the co-author of three tax textbooks, testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and made presentations to the Treasury, IRS and Office of Tax Analysis. He won numerous awards from the Broad College and MSU, including the Distinguished Faculty Award, Presidential Award for Outstanding Community Service, Withrow Teacher-Scholar Award, Curricular Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Award and department teaching and research awards.
“Words cannot adequately describe all of Professor Outslay’s many contributions to our students, to the academy and to the accounting profession. Ed was a consummate academic. He was passionate about teaching and learning, deeply committed to the students, and immersed in the study of taxation,” said Sanjay Gupta, Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean of the Broad College of Business. “As one of his doctoral students, I can say that Ed forgot more about his discipline in a day than many of us have learned in a lifetime. He leaves behind a legacy of what it truly means to be a scholar, teacher, mentor, friend and a gentleman. This a great loss for the entire Michigan State University community and especially for all of us in the Broad College.”
Within the accounting profession, Ed won the American Accounting Association (AAA) lifetime Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Tax Educator Award, the American Taxation Association (ATA) Distinguished Service Award, the ATA Teaching Innovation Award and the MACPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award. Ed also served as president of the ATA and editor of The Journal of the American Taxation Association. Recently, Ed earned the 2017 AAA/J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize for consistently demonstrating the attributes of a superior teacher in the discipline of accounting at the graduate level. He also received the 2018 ATA/Deloitte Teaching Innovation Award for his innovative teaching techniques, which encouraged critical thinking and enhanced the overall learning experience.
Ed enjoyed volunteering his time and was involved in many community programs, such as Lansing’s Meals on Wheels program and MSU’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. He was also an assistant baseball coach at East Lansing High School.
Ed’s interests included coaching baseball, reading, and traveling to baseball parks and zoos.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Furman University in Greenville, SC, and his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Ed’s guidance and energy will be deeply missed.
