Services Today for Charles Lamden

Funeral services will be held today for Charles W. Lamden of La Jolla, the first dean of San Diego State University’s college of business, who died Saturday after complications from hernia surgery. He was 75.

Lamden was crucial in getting the school accredited. He retired from the school’s faculty last May.

He was dean of the college from 1954 to 1965. He left to work with an accounting firm, but returned to SDSU in 1977.

In addition to his work at SDSU, he had been a partner in the international accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick, beginning in 1961. He became senior partner in 1965 and the first American in charge of the firm’s Paris office and continental European operations.

He returned to the United States in 1968. He retired from the company in 1977.

While teaching at SDSU, he was selected “Most Influential Professor” by the Cap and Gown Society in 1979. He also earned numerous other awards.

Sharon Lightner, a colleague of Lamden’s at the university, said, “He had a national reputation in his field but always had time for everyone at San Diego State.”

Lamden is a native of Cleveland and a 1949 graduate of UC Berkeley. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Gertrude Lamden, two sons and a daughter.

Funeral services will be held at 12:30 p.m. today at El Camino Chapel, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road. In lieu of flowers the family ask that donations be sent to San Diego State University School of Accountancy, College of Business Administration, 92182-0092.