Dennis (Denny) J. O’Connor, Cal State Fullerton professor emeritus of finance, died in his home on April 5, 2024. He was 88 years old.
O’Connor was born on May 31, 1935 in the Bronx, New York, to Eleanor Thuemmes and Dennis Paul O’Connor. Despite losing his father at 5 years old, O’Connor embraced life in the city with vigor and resilience. With the help of her sisters, O’Connor’s mother moved him and his four siblings to Marlboro, New York, where he attended Marlboro High School and played varsity basketball all four years. Known locally as “Dashing Denny,” he married his high school sweetheart, Prudence “Prue” Drago, in 1955. They were married for 26 years and had four boys: Chuck, Dennis, Timmy and Bobby.
O’Connor’s professional journey was as varied and colorful as his life. He tried several professions, including working for a private investigator, driving a water truck, bookkeeping and building Fords on an assembly line. But it was his intellectual curiosity that ultimately led him to a career in academia. O’Connor was awarded a scholarship to Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1960. He went on to get his Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research in 1967. During his career as a professor, he held faculty appointments at Arizona State University, University of San Francisco, Humboldt State and Cal State Fullerton, where he served as a professor for 27 years. He spent 11 of those years as chair of the Department of Finance.
O’Connor authored dozens of articles and three finance textbooks with his good friend and colleague, Alberto T. Bueso, but his favorite adventures in academia were serving as visiting professor at the American University in Cairo in 1970, and 1998-2001, and finally, as dean of the university’s business school from 2006-08. He considered Egypt an “old friend,” and loved the charm and pace of life in Cairo.
In 1983, O’Connor met his international travel partner, Peggy Y. (Sisk) Nugent. They married in 1984, and their union was marked by a shared love of culture, travel, the arts and family. O’Connor and Nugent visited more than two dozen countries on five continents, often taking their children and grandchildren with them. O’Connor was preceded in death by his first wife, Prue; his second wife, Peggy; his sister, Eleanor Mary (O’Connor) Fumanti; his stepdaughter, Alisa (Nugent) Luna; his brothers, Richard and Tom; and his parents, Dennis and Eleanor. He is survived by his brother, David, four sons and stepdaughter, Rebecca (Nugent) Jacobs, and by seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.