Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Page 3
‘Chap’ Findlay, Prolific Expert Witness, Dead at 63
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Memorial services are pending for M. Chapman “Chap” Findlay, a frequent expert witness in bankruptcy and securities litigation, who passed away at his home in Los Angeles.
The 63-year old professor, best known for his role in developing a methodology, termed the Financial Management Rate of Return, which became the industry standard for measuring the financial return of real estate investments, lost his battle against cancer last Tuesday, a family spokesperson said.
The Michigan native graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas, where he also obtained his master’s and doctorate degrees.
After teaching at several universities across the county, Findlay joined the University of Southern California Graduate School of Business Administration Department of Finance & Business Economics, where he served as chairman from 1976 until 1982, before becoming a full-time consultant and legal witness.
As an expert witness, Findlay was involved in almost 1,000 legal cases, including Orange County’s bankruptcy proceedings. He was one of the first experts to testify in the area of alter ego and one of a handful of experts involved in the defense in open market securities class action cases.
Findlay authored about 100 articles and books in financial management and analysis, financial theory, investment and capital markets, real estate and mortgage markets, insurance and pension issues, accounting issues, and legal issues.
His most recent textbook, Models for Investors in Real World Markets, (Wiley-Interscience Series in Probability & Statistics) co-written with Ed Williams and James R. Thompson, was published in 2003 and has become a leading reference in the field.
He co-founded c4cast.com Inc. which develops Internet-based investment and forecasting tools in 1998, and joined the Department of Finance, Real Estate & Insurance at California State University, Northridge as an advisor.
Findlay is survived by his wife Beatrice, an artist with studios in New York and Los Angeles.
The College of Business at CSUN is creating the M. Chapman Findlay Scholar Fund, which will award a cash prize annually to an outstanding CSUN real estate/finance graduate. The school is also developing an annual Findlay Memorial Lecture, where a pre-eminent scholar will be invited to speak at CSUN on a topic related to Findlay’s extensive research, the family spokesperson said.
The family requested that donations be made to these memorial projects. Checks should be made payable to the CSUN Foundation with “Chap Findlay” in the memo field and should be sent to Dean’s Office, College of Business, CSUN, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company