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Friday, February 12th, 2010 | Posted by Editor - Blog News Service

Daniel Dennis Sr., 67, CPA and civic leader

Daniel Dennis

Daniel Dennis

Daniel “Danny’’ Dennis Sr., founder and managing partner of an accounting firm in Boston, died of pancreatic cancer at his home on Thursday. The Quincy resident was 67.

Mr. Dennis founded Daniel Dennis & Co. in Boston in 1981. The firm grew from one partner and five or six employees to seven partners and about 30 staff members, said Michael O’Neil, a partner.

O’Neil, who worked with Mr. Dennis for more than 30 years, said Mr. Dennis was a visionary from his early career.

“He put together a firm that is unique in a lot of different ways,’’ O’Neil said.

“He was a big advocate of the diversity that the firm was built on, and it certainly grew from there.’’

Mr. Dennis “home-grew’’ every partner in the firm, O’Neil said. Mr. Dennis also enjoyed mentoring associates and had pride in “seeing people’s potential and trying to give them the tools . . . to accomplish their goals, whatever they were,’’ O’Neil said.

Mr. Dennis’s wife, Mary Fernandes Dennis of Quincy, said her husband developed long-term relationships with clients by working with them personally and honestly. He was always willing to lend a hand, she said.

“He always felt that, being black, we didn’t always get the same shake as someone else might have,’’ Mary Dennis said.

“So he was always there, without a fee, for anyone that wanted to start a business or needed his help.’’

Mr. Dennis was born and raised in Bridgeport, Conn., one of 11 children. He graduated in 1960 from the city’s Harding High School, where an accounting teacher encouraged him to pursue a career in the field, Mary said.

He worked two jobs to pay for his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Bridgeport, which he received in 1964.

After graduating, Mr. Dennis became a staff auditor at Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, in New York City, and then a treasurer for Opportunities Industrialization Centers in Brooklyn.

Mr. Dennis graduated in 1970 with a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

While earning his degree, Mr. Dennis and two classmates in 1968 founded Dennis, Dickerson & Wilkins, which later merged into Lucas and Tucker, Mary Dennis said. Mr. Dennis later founded Daniel Dennis & Co.

Mr. Dennis was an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Black Accountants, and Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, as well as a lifetime member of the NAACP. He served on the boards of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, NStar, the Salvation Army, and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.

He was a former board member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, OneUnited Bank, the universities of Massachusetts at Amherst and Boston, the University of Bridgeport, and St. John’s Baptist Church in Woburn. He was a former member of Senator John F. Kerry’s Advisory Council on Minority Businesses, a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business, and a delegate to the US Senate Committee for Small Business Advisory Board.

Mr. Dennis also was a visiting professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and at Bentley University in Waltham, Mary said.

In addition to Quincy, Mr. Dennis lived in Roxbury, Billerica, Danvers, and Waltham.

Mr. Dennis also was dedicated to his family.

Mary, his wife of nearly 47 years, called him “a loving, caring husband.’’

The high school sweethearts, whose families were neighbors and knew each before the two were born, were married in 1963.

His son Langdon, of Quincy, said Mr. Dennis was “always concerned about his family. He was always there. He was very loving, very giving.’’

Langdon Dennis said his friends often thought of Mr. Dennis as a second father, and he recalled eating dinner, traveling, and playing cards with him.

“My father was always joking around, saying, ‘I’m going to win, I’m going to win,’ ’’ Langdon said.

His personality also was engaging, O’Neil said. “He could be in any sort of crowd environment, and people felt like they knew him for 20 years,’’ O’Neil said.

“People usually liked to huddle around him and see what he had to say.’’

Mr. Dennis enjoyed attending annual family reunions and was very family-oriented, Mary said.

Mr. Dennis also enjoyed contemporary art and work by Paul Goodnight. He traveled to China, the Dominican Republic, Europe, and more, and he took many photographs along the way.

“He loved to travel,’’ O’Neil said.

“I don’t think there is one part of the globe he didn’t get to eventually.’’

In addition to his wife and son, he leaves his sons Daniel Jr. of Quincy and Robert of Whitman; and his siblings Annie McCann of Atlanta, and Julia Samuel, Adgie Jr., Robert, Linda Bultron, Rodney, Izeta McIntosh, Erline, and Deborah of Bridgeport.

Visitation with the family will be held today from 9-11 a.m. at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury.

Services will follow at 11 a.m.

Burial will be held at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain.

Shana Wickett can be reached at swickett@globe.com.

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