Alan D. Tobin, BA'52, H'94
Graduating in 1952 with a degree in business administration was only the beginning of Alan Tobin’s lifetime involvement with Northeastern. He’s been many things to his alma mater throughout the years: professor, Board of Trustees vice chairman, lifetime trustee emeritus, honorary degree recipient, and enthusiastic supporter of its students, faculty, and programs.
As a Northeastern undergraduate, Alan commuted every day from his native Mattapan to study accounting in the College of Business Administration. His multiple co-ops at the Boston accounting firm Fanger & Sundell laid the foundation for his remarkable career—and he later rose to a position as senior partner at that same firm.
After graduating from Northeastern, Alan served for nearly two years in the United States Army. Upon leaving the service, he worked full-time for Fanger & Sundell, his former co-op employer, and earned his bachelor’s degree in law from Boston University in 1957. He joined the Massachusetts Bar that same year, and received his master’s degree in tax law from New York University in 1958.
During his successful professional career, Alan was a certified public accountant at Fanger & Sundell , a senior partner at his own firm of Tobin & Waldstein, CPAs, and later a consultant at Walter & Schuffain, PC. In addition, he has served on the boards of many corporate and philanthropic organizations. But the “highlight of [his] career,” as Alan says, was returning to Northeastern as an adjunct professor and as a member of the dean’s advisory council for the Graduate School of Professional Accounting.
Alan's senior portrait from 1952.
Alan has always been an active Northeastern alumnus, lending his time to organizations across campus including the Husky Key Society and The National Council. He joined the university’s Board of Trustees in 1988, later serving as vice chairman, and was elected to lifetime trustee emeritus in 2005. Northeastern awarded Alan an honorary degree in 1994.
As members of the Huntington Society, Alan and his wife, Judith Tobin, are committed to educating current and future generations of Northeastern students. Through the Alan D. and Judith Tobin Charitable Foundation, they invest generously in the Isedore Rosenthal Scholarship, the Alan D. and Judith Tobin Fund, and the Alan Tobin Presidential Scholarship Fund, reinforcing their legacy at Northeastern for years to come.
The Tobins have three daughters and reside in Florida and Massachusetts.