Thomas Richard Dyckman, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor Emeritus of Accounting in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, and member of the Accounting Hall of Fame, died Oct. 30, 2026, in Naples, Florida. He was 94.

Over a Cornell career that spanned more than four decades, Dyckman contributed to the field of empirical accounting research while shaping the Johnson School through teaching and leadership. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1964 as an associate accounting professor, earned full professor in 1968, was named Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Accounting in 1977, and became professor emeritus in 2007. He also served as associate dean of academic affairs from 1984 to 1994, acting dean during the 1990s, and Cornell’s vice president for information technology from 1998 to 1999. 

“Tom was a model of a faculty member, who was an outstanding researcher, teacher and leader for the school,” said L. Joseph Thomas, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean Emeritus and professor emeritus of operations, technology and information management at the Johnson School. “These were not tradeoffs – he did all three well and with dedication.”

Dyckman was an early champion of empirical methods in accounting research and conducted influential studies on the impact of accounting disclosures on market prices. He went on to publish more than 60 journal articles and 11 monographs and books, ranging from financial and management accounting to research methodology. Two of his published works won awards from the American Accounting Association (AAA): his 1966 article, “On the Effects of Earnings – Trend, Size and Inventory Valuation Procedures in Evaluating a Business Firm,” and the co-authored 1975 monograph, “Efficient Capital Markets and Accounting: A Critical Analysis.”

At Cornell, Dyckman taught thousands of students and won multiple teaching awards, including the AAA Outstanding Educator Award. He also recruited faculty and supported their careers after they arrived on campus. The “Thomas R. Dyckman Accounting Excellence Award,” named in his honor in 2018, is given annually to Cornell MBA students for outstanding achievements in accounting studies. 

From 1984 to 1987, Dyckman served in multiple roles to advance the field of accounting and standards development. He was a member of the Advisory Council for the Financial Accounting Standards Board from 1984 to 1987, and from 1989 to 1993, he was a trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation. He also served the AAA as director of research from 1976 to 1978 and as president from 1981 to 1982. 

In 2009, Dyckman was inducted into the AAA Accounting Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, Robert Libby, now David A. Thomas Professor Emeritus of Management in the Johnson School, said “what is really remarkable about Tom’s research contributions is that he wrote seminal works in three areas that still dominate much of the literature: behavioral and experimental work, capital markets research and analytical managerial research.” Considering his combined work in research, teaching and leadership, Libby said, “his record becomes impossible to surpass.”

Dyckman earned his bachelor’s degree in actuarial mathematics, and MBA and Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Michigan. He also served in the U.S. Navy’s Intelligence Office from 1955 to 1958. He then taught at the University of California at Berkeley before coming to Cornell. 

After retiring from Cornell, Dyckman remained dedicated to education and taught for ten years as an adjunct professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. 

He is survived by his wife, Ann, their four children, ten grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. 

Alison Fromme is the associate director of communications for the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.