IN MEMORIAM

Patricia J. Hughes

Professor of Management, Emerita

UC Los Angeles

1943 – 2007

Patricia J. Hughes, former member of the accounting academic area at UCLA Anderson, passed away on July 29, 2007, after a long and hard-fought battle with breast cancer. Pat is survived by her husband, UCLA Anderson Professor Emeritus Michael Brennan, and their children, Katie, James, and Andrew, and their families.

 

Pat was a tireless institution builder. Upon her return to UCLA in 1995 (after a few-year stint at USC) she almost single-handedly rebuilt the accounting academic area, which had lost most of its faculty during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Thanks to Pat, accounting is now a vibrant research area within Anderson. Pat served as chair of the accounting area from 1995 to 2000, even while she was fighting the first occurrence of her cancer, and was a member of the first Faculty Executive Committee from 1995 to 1997. Later, she accepted the position of vice-chair of the Anderson faculty, and served in that role from 2002 to 2005. Remarkably, she completed her three-year term despite the recurrence of her cancer. Pat cared so deeply for Anderson, and believed so strongly in the notion of joint faculty responsibility for the school, that she was determined not to let anything stand in the way of her contributing to its well-being.

 

Pat was a highly respected researcher, publishing many well-cited articles in top-tier accounting and finance journals. She was a devoted teacher, spending long hours preparing her courses and, most importantly in an ever-changing field such as accounting, keeping the material up-to-date and relevant.

 

She was a wonderful mentor to the accounting junior faculty. She counseled them on their career choices and on how to balance their professional and personal lives. Pat treated everyone on the accounting faculty like family, opening up her home to annual get-togethers, to welcome new faculty, and to bid farewell to faculty departing UCLA.

 

Not surprisingly, Pat’s spirit of service extended well beyond Anderson. She was active in her church and volunteered her time to those less-fortunate than she was. Here, too, she firmly believed in shared responsibility – that it is everyone’s duty to contribute in some way to the betterment of humankind.

 

We are all very grateful for having known Pat and for having her touch our lives in so many different ways. We will always miss her.

 

Carla Hayn

Brett Trueman