September 28, 2007
Three generations in work together and Company. “I was ‘the company!’” Al said. Also in 1956, he met Doris Rapoport. She was in by JOAN K. MARCUS Omaha on her way to California to visit a cousin. Omahan Mike Abramson isn’t the sec- She had dates with several young men -ond generation of his family to be a cer- including Al. They had four dates and tified public accountant. He is the third! then announced their engagement. As a matter of fact, he and his father, Al (They have been married 50 years!) Abramson, once worked at the firm of Later, Abramson, Bercovici and Frankel, Zacharia, Arnold, Nissen, Stamp Company turned into several different and Reinsch. firms. Ultimately, Al moved on to work at Al’s father, Isadore Abramson, came to Frankel, Zacharia in 1986. He retired in the United States from Russia in about 1993 when he became the director of 1909 when he was nine-years- old. He Motor Vehicles for Nebraska. He was graduated from Commerce High School appointed by then-Governor Ben Nelson and then opened up Abramson Auditing and remained in that position until 1999 in the Brandeis Theatre Building. when the administration changed. He serves on the board of directors of Ballantine, a manufacturer of motion picture projectors. And he still does consulting with former clients. He’s also a volunteer with B’nai Brith and the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. “I also read books, magazines and I take naps in the afternoon,” he grinned. Mike Abramson, 48, graduated from Westside High School in 1977. He, like his father, went to UNL and admits he didn’t really know what he wanted to do. “I ended up going to the business school and getAl Abramson, right, and son Mike carry on the CPA traditions of ting a degree in finance. I Al’s father Isidore. took a number of According to Al, “It was more of a accounting classes. Even though my bookkeeping firm and my father’s clients father and grandfather were CPAs, I didwere primarily Jewish businessmen -- n’t think that was what I wanted to do,” grocers, furniture store owners, retailers. he added. Ultimately, he was accepted at In those days, Jews weren’t allowed to Creighton University Law School. work for big companies, so they started During college, Mike and another their own small businesses.” friend decided to travel to the University When income tax was instituted by the of Missouri for a football game. He federal government, that became a big ended up sitting next to Sheri Weissman, part of Isadore’s business. He had stud- a young woman from St. Louis. ied business in high school and later, so According to Mike, “She gave me a lot of he could pass the CPA exam. He joined trouble about being from Nebraska. We Moe Bercovici, also a CPA, to start the had a good time and I gave her a ride firm of Abramson and Bercovici. home. A couple of years later, I went to Al was born in Omaha in 1929 and visit my sister, Barbara, who was going to attended Central High. After his gradua- school there. On a whim, out of boretion in 1946, he entered the University of dom, I decided to call Sheri and visit. We Nebraska at Lincoln. “I really didn’t went to a movie and, after dating, we got know what I wanted to do so, I majored engaged in 1981.” in business administration and accountThey were married in 1982 and Mike ing. After college graduation in 1950, I began practicing law at the firm of Garber joined my father’s firm. A couple of years and Batt. “I was later courted by the later, I became a CPA. When I got my accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand certificate, I was CPA #429 and my dad to work in their tax department. I joined was #59.” (His son Mike holds #4136.) them with no inclination toward being a “My dad and Mr. Bercovici were great CPA. However, I took additional classes mentors,” Al added. “By that time, the and then became a third-generation business had changed; we still picked up accountant.” bank statements and cancelled checks and In 1987, Mike joined the firm of entered them into a ledger -- by hand! Frankel, Zacharia where his father was We performed quarterly payroll tax working at the time. Al interjected, “I returns and financial statements. In those saw my father every day from 1950 until days, there were no computers. In order 1979. It was a meaningful and respectful to do an income tax return, somebody relationship, and Mike and I have the had to do it by hand and then somebody same kind of union.” would type it -- with carbon paper!” Mike responded, “By becoming an Al never heard his father and his part- accountant, I had come full circle. I ner argue. “They both had different tal- remember playing on the adding machine ents and they respected each other. It was in my grandfather’s office and taking the before air conditioning, and we put paper elevator down to have lunch with my around our wrists so that the perspiration father, grandfather and grandmother, from our hands wouldn’t smear the ink Ann Green Abramson, in the tea room in on our documents,” he laughed. Brandeis. It was a wonderful treat to be In 1956, Al became a partner and the with those role models.” name changed to Abramson, Bercovici Continued on page 6
Be a role model;
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