Tunis E. Den Hartog

CPA Consultant

Laureate 2005

The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off. This must be the fear of Tunis Den Hartog. After attempting to retire twice, most of those who know Tunis today would agree that he still doesnt seem to have the hang of retirement yet. However, most of those same people probably hope he doesnt catch on anytime soon. Whether at work as a CPA or as a community volunteer with the Cedar Valley Hospice or Black Hawk Humane Society, Tunis quiet leadership motivates and inspires people across the Cedar Valley and has for several decades.

After high school graduation in 1941 and a few months of working, Tunis' parents encouraged him to go to school in Waterloo where he acquired a business administration degree from Gates Business College (now Hawkeye Community College). Tunis wasn't sure the big city life of Waterloo was going to be a fit for him when he initially moved to the area from Eddyville, Iowa, but soon adjusted and met his future wife of 57 years Marilyn Brown and raised their four children. Tunis' career as a business and financial advisor is widespread - from starting various CPA partnerships to serving as the president of Home Savings & Loan (later MidAmerica Savings Bank), Tunis ultimately loved being a part of other people's success. To see his family, friends and colleagues succeed was and is his number one priority. This simple, self-effacing goal has made Tunis no stranger to such generous actions as donating his time to the elderly during tax season, to the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce board, to the Sunnyside Country Club as Santa Claus, or to the numerous other organizations and groups he so fervently serves. So many Cedar Valley businesses are successful today because of guidance provided by this humble and insightful man.

The impact that Tunis has in the Cedar Valley is quiet yet powerful. For a man who took trigonometry and calculus because he knew those classes would be easy Tunis Den Hartog has impacted the Cedar Valley in so many ways beyond the world of accounting and numbers.