University of New Orleans finance professor Tarun Mukherjee, who spent more than four decades as a faculty member at the University of New Orleans where he established a scholarship, created a $50,000 student-managed fund, and help create an on-campus finance trading lab, died June 11. He was 78.
Mukherjee, whose primary expertise was in corporate finance, donated $100,000 to establish the Kali C. and Sushila B. Mukherjee Student-Managed Fund and the Kali and Sushila Mukherjee Trading Lab because he said he wanted to give UNO finance majors real-world experience in portfolio management.
The lab and fund are named in honor of Mukherjee’s parents who he said instilled in him the importance of hard work and the value of education. He also established The Kali Charan Mukherjee Endowed Scholarship in Finance, a renewable $1,000 a year scholarship, for students majoring in finance.
The trading lab is located in Kirschman Hall, home to the Henry Bernstein College of Business Administration, and was opened in 2022. Several of Mukherjee’s relatives attended the ribbon cutting.
“Tarun was a respected scholar, mentor and educator. He cared deeply for UNO, his colleagues and students and gave generously of his time and money,” said Pamela Kennett-Hensel, dean of UNO’s Henry Bernstein College of Business Administration. “In his 40+ year tenure at UNO, he's educated thousands of students and helped in building many successful programs including the Ph.D. in financial economics and the MS in finance.”
Mukherjee had been at the University since 1981, and once described his landing in the finance field as “simply accidental.” He was one of 10 children born into a middle-class family in India. Mukherjee said his parents, who are deceased, sacrificed a great deal to see that he and his siblings received the best education that the family could afford.
He majored in history in India and planned to earn a Ph.D. in the subject. However, the university where his oldest brother was teaching didn’t offer a doctorate. He ended up in an MBA program and received a Ph.D. in finance from Texas Tech, he said.
“I now realize that finance was always my destiny because I am getting paid for something that I totally enjoy,” Mukherjee said during an interview.
Mukherjee was hired at UNO as an assistant professor in economics and finance in 1981. He was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure in 1985. He was promoted to full professor in 1987.
“It's hard to imagine UNO without him,” Kennett-Hensel said. “We will miss him but we will work hard to continue his legacy.”
Visitation will be Friday, June 21, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd., New Orleans. A funeral service will be held Saturday, June 22, at 10 a.m.
