Two of our longtime cherished colleagues at Accounting Today have passed away: Roger Russell and Jeff Stimpson.
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We bid goodbye today to Roger at a funeral service in Lynbrook, Long Island. Roger had been covering tax for Accounting Today since 2000, bringing his legal expertise and tax knowledge to our magazine and website for decades. Roger was born in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1942 and he maintained a devotion to sports teams upstate, especially the Buffalo Bills. He continued working for Accounting Today as a senior editor until just recently at the age of 83.
A Vietnam War veteran, Roger met his wife Lee Ping from China there and they raised a son, Will, and daughter, Margaret, in the United States after the war. They have four grandchildren — Philip, Pippa, William and Archie — and also leave behind a son-in-law, Brian, and daughter-in-law Gemma. He loved showing us photos of his adorable grandchildren and his beloved pugs.
Roger attended Princeton University and New York University Law School and worked at CCH for six years before joining Accounting Today. He was very proud of his Scottish heritage and often attended the annual Tartan Day Parade. Roger was always a gentleman who was beloved by his colleagues and many friends.
He and Jeff will be greatly missed by us. Jeff worked for 14 years at our sister publication the Practical Accountant as a staff writer and senior reporter before it closed down in 2009 and he then freelanced for Accounting Today for many years, writing the weekly Tax Fraud Blotter and In the Blogs columns, along with many feature articles about the world of tax, always getting great quotes from his sources. Jeff had a terrific sense of humor that he brought to his writing.
He leaves behind his wife Jill and his sons Ned and Alex. Jeff wrote about Alex and his challenges with autism in two books, “Alex: The Fathering of a Preemie” and “Alex the Boy: Episodes from a Family’s Life with Autism,” as well as in his personal blogs. Before he began covering the accounting and tax profession, Jeff wrote for newspapers in New York City and upstate in Ithaca. During the funeral last week, Jeff’s family and colleagues recalled his pride at attending and coaching his son Ned’s football games. Besides football, Jeff had many varied interests, including model building and science fiction series like Star Trek. He always brought great humor, gusto and enthusiasm to whatever he did.
We salute both Roger and Jeff and extend our condolences to their family and friends.
