ObituaryHorace Brock
Submitted on Tuesday, October 29, 2019
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.