Gordon Tasker

Palm City, Fla. — Formerly of West Hartford, Glastonbury and Mystic, Gordon Wilson Tasker died Feb. 7, 2019, in Palm City, Fla., at age 97. A son of Scottish immigrants Walter and Ada Tasker, he grew up in West Hartford, graduating from Hall High School. Gordon entered the University of Connecticut where his education, like that of many others, was interrupted by World War II. As an Army officer, he spent several years stateside before participating in the occupation of Japan. He returned to UConn in 1947, and earned a B.S. with distinction in public accounting.

Gordon was a longtime partner of Price Waterhouse Cooper, where he was managing partner of the Hartford office before moving to New York City to assume international client responsibilities. He was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and of the New York and Connecticut Societies of CPAs; a recipient of the 1970 Merit Award from the University of Hartford Accounting Society for outstanding service to the accounting profession; Chairman of the Connecticut State Chamber of Commerce; and a board member of the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Living and Church Homes, Inc.

Gordon maintained a lifelong relationship with the University of Connecticut, where he served on the Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1980, nine of those years as Board Chairman where his tenure spanned the terms of three University presidents and Connecticut governors. He was also a part time faculty member of the UConn School of Business, a charter member of the School’s Alumni Hall of Fame, Volunteer Chairman for several of its fundraising campaigns, and recipient of the UConn Alumni Association’s University Service Award in 1978. In recognition of his outstanding professional achievements, leadership and distinguished public service, the Board of Trustees awarded him the University Medal in 1990, and, in what he considered his greatest honor, named the Undergraduate Admissions Building after him.

Gordon is survived by his wife, Ruth Spencer Tasker; children from his first marriage, Richard Storrs Tasker of Atlantic Beach, Fla., and Elizabeth Tasker Davis of Bethesda, Md.; grandchildren Carter Braxton Davis, Elizabeth Storrs Davis Lozner, Chesley Harding Davis, and Laura Spencer Humphrey; and four great-grandchildren. His first marriage to Priscilla Storrs Tasker of West Hartford ended in divorce.

Interment is private.

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