Frederick Lindahl, a longtime associate professor of accounting and Air Force veteran, died last week from complications related to lung cancer. He was 76.

His wife, Elizabeth, said he had “sisu,” a Finnish word meaning grit and determination. He loved athletic competition in cycling, running and dancing – but he always tried to best himself, not others. Even while suffering from lung cancer, he would take a walk up and down the hills of their neighborhood five days a week, she said.

His philosophy was “just do it, then do it better,” she said. Her husband picked up chores around the house when she returned to school at GW to become a physician’s assistant and always supported her, she said.

“He wasn’t a complainer,” she said. “He held himself and his students to high standards.”

Colleagues and students said Lindahl, who began working in the business school in 1993, will be remembered as a scholar and mentor who loved to learn and would always offer a helping hand where needed.

“Fred contributed so much – his loss will be felt by our students, his colleagues, the school and the University,” School of Business Dean Anuj Mehrotra said last week in a business school press release. “His family and loved ones are in our thoughts and prayers.”

Robin Tarpley, the chair of the accountancy department, said Lindahl was always calm and collected and often served as an example to others in the department. He was one of the few remaining professors who still stood up when anyone entered his office like “a perfect gentleman,” she said.

“You will never see anything but civil and gentlemanly from him,” she said. “He just really added to that atmosphere.”

Tarpley said Lindahl helped bring an international perspective to the business school in his classes and research because of his studies abroad. He had a Master in Business Administration from Harvard University and a doctorate from the University of Chicago, but he taught at universities all over the world – including the Turku School of Economics in Finland and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, according to the business school release.

Tarpley said Lindahl could never learn enough and would read and share articles in his discipline. When she visited him at the hospital earlier this semester, he still had an accounting journal at the foot of his bed, she said.

Angela Gore, a professor of accountancy, said he went out of his way on numerous occasions to help her or make her feel more comfortable in her position. When Gore traveled to Finland a few years ago – a country Lindahl traveled to every year – for her sabbatical, he helped her find a new apartment after deeming the one she had picked out not good enough for her, she said.

“I don’t even remember him saying no to anything because I was in the department here for a few years too, and every time I asked him to do anything – no matter what it was – the answer was always, ‘Yes, how can I help?’” she said.

More than a scholar, Lindahl was also an Air Force veteran who served active duty for two years and in the reserves until after Operation Desert Storm, according to an obituary from the Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1963, and he will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery at “a later date,” according to the obituary.

Gore said Lindahl rarely talked about his time in the military – which was a testament to his humble nature – despite having won a Distinguished Flying Cross award, a decoration awarded for acts of heroism in the Air Force.

Christopher Jones, an assistant professor of accountancy, said everyone wanted Lindahl to serve on their committees because he would get the group’s work done, even if he had to do it himself. He took it upon himself in 1996 to become the director of the master’s accounting program, not because anyone told him he had to do it, Jones said, but because he felt there should be a director for the program.

“He just did it without making a big fuss about it or asking for any credit,” he said.

Lindahl also enjoyed the outdoors and hiking, especially at nearby Shenandoah National Park, Jones said.

Fifth-year doctoral student Menghai Gao said she met with Lindahl before she applied to doctorate programs, and he pulled out a book with statistics detailing how few students are accepted into programs every year. He told her she would have to be determined if she wanted to make it, and it inspired her, Gao said.

“It got me thinking and it got me motivated, and it made me even more sure that I want to be one of them,” she said.

Atul Singh, a fourth-year doctoral student, said that although Lindahl never taught him, he was a patient listener and a “father figure” to most of the doctoral students.

“He would listen to every word that I would say and then make notes and then give his response,” he said.

The memorial service for Lindahl will be held Nov. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home in Alexandria, Va. The family asks for donations to Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation, Shenandoah National Park Trust and Daedalians Foundation in lieu of flowers.

Arianna Dunham and Charlotte Zerbst contributed reporting.