In memoriam: Larry Killough, professor emeritus of ACIS
April 4, 2022
Larry Neil Killough, 89, of Claytor Lake, passed away on Wednesday, January 19, 2022.
Killough taught accounting for 45 years in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems. He was conferred the title of “professor emeritus” by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in 2014. His research expertise and primary teaching areas were Cost and Managerial Accounting. Killough co-authored eight books and more than 60 academic and practitioner journal articles. In addition, he had numerous conference proceedings published, and spoke at over 30 professional meetings.
Killough was an outstanding classroom teacher. He supervised over 20 Ph.D. dissertations as chair and served on an additional 20 dissertations as either a committee member or external reviewer. Over his career, he received several recognitions of his accomplishments including Pamplin Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, Pamplin Outstanding Teaching award for Doctoral Programs, and SAAC Professor of the year. Moreover, for his teaching and research accomplishments he was awarded the KPMG Professorship in Accounting, which he held for over 30 years. In addition, he served as department head of Accounting for nine years.
Over his career, Killough served the department, college, university, and accounting profession on an extensive number of committees. One specific committee assignment deserves special mention. For 19 years he was the university representative for athletics to the NCAA. This is an extraordinary amount of time for one individual to serve in this capacity. His tenure as NCAA representative spanned several different university presidents, athletic directors, and conference affiliations, all of which point to the quality of the job he did in representing the university.
Killough’s interests were not limited to academe. He loved boating, sailing, swimming, skiing, woodworking, and scuba diving, eventually becoming a scuba diving instructor. In his younger days, he enjoyed playing softball, basketball, volleyball, and participating in other sporting activities. In addition, he was a long-time avid Hokie sports fan.
Killough is survived by his loving wife of 69 years, Irene; a daughter, and a son; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. He will be missed by many people whose life he has touched in a positive manner.