Maurice Hirsch
Maurice (Bud) Hirsch has traveled from corporate
executive to starting a successful business, teaching management
accounting, serving as associate dean, writing books and articles
in his academic field and in oral and written communications, to
retiring and becoming a poet. All the while, he has been an avid
horseman and photographer, and has been active in the arts and in
his community.
Bud began writing poems in 2000 after his retirement from Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where he was Associate
Dean for Academic Affairs of the School of Business and Professor
of Accounting. When one of his best friends and mentor, Carla
Cunningham, died after fighting breast cancer for many years, he
sat down and began writing poetry with her as his muse. He has three collections of poems: Stares to Other Places (2004) , Roots and Paths (2004, and Taking Stock (2009). Along with Carol Kaplan-Lyss, he presented a concert reading called Change, the Subject, that combined poetry and music.
“It’s an interesting path from corporate America to
academia to retirement,” Bud says, "from healthy to encountering
cancer, and from writing technical books and articles in accounting to
writing poems.” Bud and his wife, Marian, were married before
his senior year in college. When he graduated, he joined a large
publication printer, rose to a vice presidency, and stayed with that
company for ten years. He went back to school and received an
M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Accounting from Washington University in St. Louis. From there,
he went to SIUE where he taught for over twenty years. He is the
author or coauthor of Cost Accounting: Accumulation, Analysis,
and Use; Advanced Management Accounting; and Communication
for Accountants: Strategies for Success as well as several journal
articles and teaching cases. He was known as innovative in curriculum
development and teaching/learning methods—with a heavy emphasis
on writing and oral presentations.
Bud was a founder of Waterway Gas ‘n Wash, a chain of car
washes based in St. Louis with units in three other cities. He has
also served on several corporate and advisory boards.
A photographer for most of his life, Bud uses his own work on the covers and inside pages of his poetry books. Links
to his photos and trip logs are through clicking here.
He is an avid horseman, breeding, training, riding, and showing Paso
Fino horses for over thirty five years. Today, he has three mares and a young gelding and
rides on local trails.
After over twenty-five years, Bud retired as a board member of
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. He is a founding board member
and business manager of Chesterfield Arts, a community-based arts organization, and served
on the City of Chesterfield’s Planning Commission and was its Chair.
Bud has received many honors including The Illinois CPA Society
Outstanding Accounting Educator (1992), the Paso Fino Horse Association
Hall of Fame (2004), as well as its Amateur Owner of the Year Award
(1998) and its Merit of Honor Award (1986). He was named Chesterfield's 2007 Citizen of the Year.
Bud and Marian, his wife of forty-nine years, live on a horse farm
in Chesterfield, Missouri.
