COL MORTIMER A. DITTENHOFER To TAPS

DITTENHOFER MORTIMER A. DITTENHOFER, JR. Mortimer A. Dittenhofer died on Friday March 4, 2016 of heart failure. He was living independently at Riderwood Retirement Community in Silver Spring, MD. Mort Jr. was born in St. Paul, MN, January 1914. Mort had been Professor Emeritus, a Ph.D., a Certified Internal Auditor, a Colonel in the Army, a government supergrade, an extensively published author, a member or leader of innumerable professional organizations, an internationally sought after speaker, and an inspiration, mentor and friend to his professional associates, students, neighbors and children. Mort graduated from Macalester College, fromNorthwestern University and from American University with a Ph.D. in accounting in 1974. His army experience included landing on Omaha Beach with pistol, carbine, and adding machine strapped to his back. He was in the advance to Paris, and later helped design and personally implement the system used to account for property recovered from the Nazi''s as the allies advanced to Berlin. Mort was auditor for several substantial businesses in Industry before joining the Atomic Energy Commission, (now Energy Department) under top-secret clearance and armed, he accounted for radioactive material and weapons. In addition to important accomplishments at NASA and HEW (now two Departments - Education, and Health and Human Services), in 1969 he joined the General Accounting (or Accountability) Office, where he headed a group that developed "The Yellow Book" which established for the first time the audit standards practiced by governments all over the world and to this day. It has been translated into 23 languages. He transitioned into full time academia after teaching evenings at DePaul, Idaho State and Idaho University, George Washington and American U. He was associate professor of accounting and auditing at Georgetown University for seven years and at Florida International University for 16 years, where at 78, he was perhaps one of the oldest professors ever granted tenure. In a two-year period, FIU awarded him an Outstanding Achievement Award, Outstanding Educator Award, Most Supportive Faculty Member, and Distinguished Service Award. He retired at 88 but continued publishing until his 100th year. He was a valued member of many professional organizations, most particularly The IIA (Institute of Internal Auditors) and the International Consortium on Government Financial Management-ICGFM, which he co-founded in 1977. He is the only audit practitioner to receive both the Bradford Cadmus Memorial and Leon R. Radde Educator of the Year award from the IIA, and one of only four recipients of The IIA''s Lifetime Achievement Award. Further honors include the Gary Einhorn Achievement Award from the AGA (Association of Government Accountants) and Man of the Year Award from Macalester College. He served as a United Nations expert and wrote the conference text for a 1988 multinational meeting in Vienna Austria. As well as establishing standards in "The Yellow Book", Mort helped lay the foundation for audit education by co-editing "Sawyer''s Internal Auditing", the 1,446-page preeminent reference guide. He also established the Internal Auditing Education Partnership, which now exists at 45 colleges and universities around the world. His lifetime of authoring has included at least 40 articles, innumerable papers presented at conferences and numerous books. His hobbies included amassing a collection of 245 models of historic fire engines, coin collecting, and reading military history. How was he able to achieve so much in his life? total optimism, enthusiasm, equanimity, perfectionism, and thriving on 5 hours of sleep. His secret for living to 102? "Always chase the girls!" Mort is predeceased by two wives and one daughter. He is survived by two children, three step-children, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His memorial service will be on March 26 at 11 a.m., in the Riderwood Retirement Community Chapel in Silver Spring, MD with a reception to follow. The family requests donations to The Cancer Research Institute, New York City in lieu of flowers.Mort is predeceased by two wives and one daughter. He is survived by two children, three step-children, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.