I heard snippets about Bentley over the years, but it wasn’t until my father was in his eighties that I understood how much the school meant to him. It was then he traveled back for his 60th class reunion and also started attending alumni events near home.  

My dad Richard Baltz, who went by “Dick,” was born in 1912 in Elmira, N.Y. His father worked for the newspaper and his mother was a schoolteacher. When he came of age the U.S. economy was teetering. Recognizing my dad’s skill with numbers, his father said, “Son, get out of Elmira.”  My dad headed to Boston, enrolling at Bentley, a school then focused solely on accounting and finance.  

He graduated at a tumultuous time — 1932, the height of the Great Depression. He headed to New York City with nothing. It wasn’t easy. He told me that sometimes he slept until noon because he knew there would be nothing to eat when he woke up. But his Bentley degree helped him find work. He would turn to that credential over and over in his life.  

My dad’s time at Bentley also helped him find what I’d say was his true passion — understanding and investing in company stocks. He was this quiet accountant by day, but he had this other side that he never talked about. He used his understanding of company valuations and market movements, and carefully evaluated and took risk. And he was successful at it, investing only in stocks he understood.

He was savvy in other ways, too. He turned around an ailing laundry business that he and my mother had bought. He invested in land that had nothing on it and helped turn it into a thriving residential town. 

Despite all this, my dad was the most modest guy. He drove the same car year after year, lived in a modest home, and used his skills to help others without ever drawing attention to himself. He was also my partner in all things play as a kid. Later, we used to sail and golf together, and he supported my passion for riding horses, though insisting I earn my own way. He was an amazing writer. He courted and proposed to my mother Neale by letter while she worked overseas. They were married 57 years. And he and I exchanged wonderful letters until his last years. 

My dad worked at Fairchild Aircraft while I was growing up. He worked there for 20 years, finishing as Assistant Comptroller. True to form, he passed on a pension, instead taking his retirement benefits in one lump sum so he could do what he loved most — study and invest.

In late life, my dad continued to stay in touch with friends and connected to Bentley. As someone with so many interests and talents, I know he would have loved being a student at Bentley today.

This Father’s Day, I am so proud to give back to the place that helped make my father who he was: a quiet accountant, and so much more.  

Mary Baltz Curran has established a scholarship in her father’s name that serves students who are the first in their family to attain a college degree. She has also joined the 1917 Legacy Society, a special group of dedicated donors who have pledged to include Bentley in their estate plans.