Pete Wilson had a ready response whenever people asked him about his widely acclaimed success as a teacher. He would say that he鈥檚 a 鈥渧ery good鈥� teacher but that he has a 鈥済reat鈥� class, just as he鈥檚 a 鈥渧ery good鈥� husband with a 鈥済reat鈥� family. It was his way of making the point that nobody succeeds on their own鈥攁nd when you begin to realize this, you鈥檙e on what he called 鈥渢he journey from me to we.鈥�
The accounting professor did not hide the fact that he sometimes struggled to live up to his own words. 鈥淵ou have to say it for years before you believe it,鈥� Wilson told a reporter in 2016. 鈥淎nd then you wake up one morning and say, 鈥業 can鈥檛 do this without them.鈥欌��
Pete Wilson in 2017 (Tony Rinaldo)
G. Peter Wilson鈥攐ne of the most beloved professors in the history of the Carroll School and 乱伦小可爱鈥攄ied on September 12 at his home in Tampa, Florida. He was 73; the cause of death was complications from Parkinson鈥檚 disease, said Mary Ellen Carter, a Carroll School accounting professor and close friend of the Wilson family.
Wilson was the holder of the Joseph L. Sweeney Chair in Accounting at the Carroll School, before retiring in December 2018 and becoming an emeritus professor. He made his name as an academic researcher well before arriving at 乱伦小可爱 in 1997, having taught at Stanford, Harvard, and MIT At a certain point, though, Wilson decided that he had made his most noteworthy contributions to accounting scholarship. He turned his prodigious energy and passion to the art and craft of teaching.
鈥淧ete was the very definition of a master teacher,鈥� said John and Linda Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton, pointing to the plethora of awards and honors that Wilson received for excellence in teaching from major organizations within and beyond the accounting world. 鈥淗e was also a great and generous mentor of teachers at our school and in the accounting discipline.鈥� There was little to deliberate on, when it came time to formally name the Carroll School鈥檚 flagship series of seminars on excellence in teaching: In 2014, it became the Wilson Faculty Teaching Seminar.
鈥淭eaching was Pete鈥檚 signature craft,鈥� Boynton added, 鈥渂ut he also was a superb scholar. He exemplified careful thought and assessment of a wide variety of theoretical and empirical research.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 a fine line between challenging them and killing them ... You have to know when you鈥檙e wrong. That鈥檚 part of the journey from me to we.鈥�
He had a chirpy voice and a penchant for audacious neckties. (As to the ties, he would explain that he was 鈥渟hort, bald, and skinny,鈥� thus eager to focus attention elsewhere.) In the halls of Fulton, he was perhaps most legendary for the sheer amounts of work he piled on students鈥攚ho would give him rave reviews on teacher evaluations nonetheless (a familiar refrain being that they never thought accounting could be so interesting). At times, he would push too hard, and Wilson would do something unusual for a professor of his stature: He would apologize to the students.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a fine line between challenging them and killing them,鈥� he acknowledged a few years ago. 鈥淵ou have to know when you鈥檙e wrong. That鈥檚 part of the journey from me to we.鈥�
Pete and Carolyn Wilson in 2017 (Gary Wayne Gilbert)
Among his peers in the accounting discipline, he was known for his many innovations in teaching, which is why he earned awards too numerous to list in full, among them the