Michael Urbach, Former Tax Commissioner, Dies at 60

Michael Urbach, Former Tax Commissioner, Dies at 60

Michael Howard Urbach, the first CPA to serve as the New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance, died on Feb. 17 in Palm Beach, Fla. He had been in a coma following a collision with a sheriff’s department squad car in January, the Associated Press reported. He was 60 years old.

“He was a great public servant and a great friend,” the AP quoted Gov. George Pataki, who appointed Urbach to the commissioner position in January 1995, as saying.

Handling the department’s 5,500 employees and $44 billion in annual revenues, Urbach was responsible for the management and administration of one of the state’s largest agencies.

Until his position ended in April 1999, Urbach took it upon himself to cut through red tape, benefiting both businesses and CPA practitioners by making the Department of Taxation and Finance more “user-friendly,” said Marilyn Pendergast, a New York State Society of CPAs past president and partner with Urbach Kahn & Werlin, P.C. (UKW), where Urbach also was a partner.

In addition to his public service, Urbach had an active role in the NYSS-CPA, which awarded him the Outstanding CPA in Government Award in 1997.

“Urbach worked with early government relations and legislative initiatives on behalf of the NYSSCPA and continued to support the efforts of the Society as tax commissioner,” Pendergast said. He also was involved with the Society’s Northeast (then Albany) Chapter.

Professionally, Urbach most recently served as the senior vice president and chief financial officer for the New York Power Authority (NYPA).

“Mike left the Power Authority this past November after serving with distinction for more than four and a half years…His considerable professional skills were a major asset to the NYPA, both in day-to-day financial operations and in a number of special assignments,” Eugene W. Zeltmann, NYPA president and chief executive officer, said, according to a press release.

Before joining the NYPA, Urbach accumulated 30 years of experience as a shareholder (partner) and executive vice president of UKW, where he specialized in midsized business operations and provided consulting services to government entities and officials.

In addition to his NYSSCPA distinction, Urbach was honored as a delegate to the National White House Conference for Small Businesses and as a member of the New York State Senate and Assembly committees for Small Business Legislation and the Regional Advisory Board of Small Business Administration. His coworker, Pendergast, referred to him as “a tireless advocate of small businesses.”

In a December 1998 Trusted Professional interview with Society Executive Director Louis Grumet, Urbach speculated on where he thought the accounting profession was headed in the next century.

“The greatest challenge the accounting profession faces is being able to deliver great service and value in an increasingly global and competitive marketplace,” Urbach responded.

Having delivered for decades the superior level of service he recommended then to others, Urbach’s professional impact will clearly live on.

According to the Albany Times Union, Urbach is survived by his two sons, Marc and Steven, and their wives, Dawn and Lisi. He also is survived by his sister Cynthia Urbach, nephew Kenneth Krouner, his close friend Harriet Kraver and long-time friend Dianne Meckler.