Former Business School dean dies at 77

Former Business School Dean John Burton died Sunday, according to the New York Times. He was 77.

Burton received an M.B.A. and an economics Ph.D. from Columbia, and served as a faculty member from 1962 through 2002. He was dean of the Business School from 1982 to 1988. He is listed as the Ernst & Young Professor Emeritus of Accounting & Finance, and was credited with making the school more competitive and building faculty.

Burton also worked as the chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission before moving on to be the deputy mayor for finance in New York City.

He pushed accountants to take a more active role in business trends and social decisions, publishing an essay called "Where Are the Angry Young C.P.A.s?" in the New York Times in 1980.

Burton died of liver failure.