For Anthony Bakale, an internship with Cohen & Company during his senior year at CSU evolved into a 35-year career with the firm. Today, he’s a partner, as well as Cohen’s tax technical director and the longest-serving member of its board of directors.
To show his appreciation for his accounting education, Bakale, BBA ’82, and his wife, Kathy, established the Anthony and Kathleen Bakale Endowed Accounting Scholarship to benefit students in the Monte Ahuja College of Business.
Cohen & Company regularly hires CSU students as both employees and interns and also supports Radiance and other CSU initiatives. And Bakale always finds time to give back to his alma mater. A 14-year member of the Alumni Association board of directors, he held officer positions for six years as vice president, president and past president. He has served on the Accounting Department Advisory Committee in the College of Business for 30 years and chaired the group for three years. He also has served as an adjunct faculty member, teaching tax courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Currently a member of the CSU Foundation Board of Directors, he chaired the Audit Committee for six years and has served on the Executive and Investment Committees. In 2014, he was CSU’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipient for service to the University.
Kathy Bakale is a legal assistant at Nationwide Insurance. Like her husband, she is a strong supporter of the University and is often in attendance at CSU events.
The couple have strong ties to Viking athletics and have been basketball season ticket holders for 30 years. One of their biggest thrills was meeting Norris Cole last season when CSU retired his jersey, sitting 10 feet from LeBron James, Cole’s good friend who attended the ceremony.
“As a student, scholarships made me feel like someone was pulling for me,” says Bakale. “We hope our scholarship does the same for current and future generations of CSU accounting students.”