ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Adventurous Accountant

LIU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT BOB JAHELKA (ACCOUNTING, ’84) CLIMBED MOUNT WASHINGTON AT FOUR YEARS OLD AND HASN’T BACKED DOWN FROM A CHALLENGE SINCE

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or many people, fond childhood memories include a trip to Disney World or Yankee Stadium. Others may recall a fun birthday party or a family road trip. For Bob Jahelka, Managing Partner at Demasco, Sena & Jahelka (DSJCPA), nothing beats his first ascent up Mount Washington in New Hampshire — the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 feet. Accompanied by his father, Jahelka climbed the mountain for the first time at four years old. The trip became an annual family tradition, one that Jahelka, a West Hempstead native, has continued on with his son Stephen. While precocious children can manage the climb, the intrepid journey is not for the faint of heart. “We’ve gotten caught on the top of the mountain, where literally you can’t see your hand in front of your face,” he said. “You could start out and it could be beautiful, then at the top it’s raining sideways with 60 mile-per-hour gusts. It changes in a second.”

Bob Jahelka

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LIUMAGAZINE | December 2019

Jahelka’s youthful activities also included sports, which eventually earned him an athletic scholarship to LIU, where he played lacrosse and football. Yet the chance to play sports was a secondary appeal, surpassed by the opportunity to attend the nation’s first school of professional accountancy at LIU. He took an accounting class in high school