Horace Brock, 92, Professor Emeritus of accounting and one of the driving forces in building the national reputation of UNT’s accounting program, died Oct. 26 in Denton.
He was known globally as the premier expert in oil and gas accounting, and he wrote numerous oil and gas accounting textbooks that were considered the best in the field.
He taught at UNT from 1954 to 1991, serving as chair of the accounting department and acting dean of the College of Business during that time. He founded the university’s Institute for Petroleum Accounting and helped establish the Chief Executives Roundtable (CERT).
“I was fortunate to have Horace Brock as a professor at UNT and to work with him as an expert post graduation,” says Brint Ryan (’88, ’88 M.S.), CEO of Dallas-based Ryan, a tax services firm. “He was truly a giant in his field and one of the most distinguished professors at UNT.”
Brock’s reputation in the accounting field was felt around the world. In the 1970s, he served as chair of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Task Force, which created accounting standards for the petroleum industry that are still used today, and on the accounting standards advisory committee for the Federal Energy Commission. He also served on the Securities and Exchange Commission and established business curriculum as a consultant for the Turkish Education Ministry in Istanbul.
Brock and his wife, the late Euline Brock (’74 Ph.D.) — who taught at North Texas and served as the mayor of Denton — were strong supporters of the university. They met in 1954 when he taught accounting and she taught English, and their dates often included concerts on campus — a tradition they continued for more than 50 years. They married in 1955 and had three children.
The Brocks were life members of the Alumni Association and members of the McConnell Society. Horace received the Honorary Alumni Award in 1993, the UNT President’s Award for outstanding service in 1984 and the UNT Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award in 1975. He also belonged to three organizations supporting the UNT College of Music — the Dean’s Camerata, the College of Music Advisory Board and the Community Support Council.
The Brocks contributed to the College of Music, the College of Business, athletics, the libraries and the Emerald Eagle Scholars program. Their scholarships include the Euline and Horace Brock Merit Scholarship, which supports music students; the Brock Endowment for Strings, a full-ride scholarship given to an outstanding string player each year; and the Euline W. Brock Centennial Presidential Scholarship, which recruits top academically performing students coming to the university.
The Euline and Horace Brock Grand Lobby in the Murchison Performing Arts Center is named in their honor for their contributions. In recognition of decades of outstanding support for UNT and its students, the Brocks received the Wings of Eagles Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
They were both active in the Denton community, and received the Denton Rotary Club's 2010 Community Service Award.
Horace received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Sam Houston State University and his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. He also served in the U.S. Air Force.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Nov. 2 at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 300 W. Oak Street in Denton. The family encourages people attending between Homecoming activities to wear “Mean Green” apparel.
